"You will never do anything in this world without courage. It is the greatest quality of the mind next to honor."
~ Aristotle


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Apparently they allowed AR extremist friendly media to attend their "Law emforcement-only" workshop. If I lived in Georgia I would find out what I could do to complain about this judge's obvious lack of impartiality.


Gwinnett to get tough on animal abuse, especially dog fighting


The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 03/06/08

Gwinnett County is ready to get tough on animal abuse and neglect, especially dog fighting, a county judge said to police and activists Thursday.

Addressing a seminar on animal fighting held by the Sheriff's department, Gwinnett State Court Judge Carla Brown told listeners that, "Juries are itching to convict on these [animal neglect and abuse] cases."

As often as not, prosecutors treat many kinds of animal cruelty cases as misdemeanors ’if not simple ordinance violations’ in the name of judicial expediency, simply to bring the bad behavior to a halt, she said.

The seminar organized by the Humane Society brought law enforcement officials from around metro Atlanta together with animal rights activists to learn new methods to identify, investigate and prosecute animal fighting cases.

Sgt. David Hunt, an investigator with the sheriff's department of Franklin County, Ohio, presented a video at the training session.

The chest of one black pit bull in the video looks like it has been torn open. The other dog has its jaws clamped around its opponent's neck.

In the background, a man coos "C'mon baby" over and over in a high-pitched voice to his dog. It isn't clear if he's calling to the one fighting for his life on the ground or not. A woman's voice calls out, cheering one dog on.

The voices are the only sound to hear in the five-year-old video of an underground dog fighting ring. Police remain interested in the crime, though, Hunt said. His Ohio county has seized about 200 fighting dogs in recent years, spending $1.2 million just to house them as evidence.

Hunt said that the public's interest in ending dogfighting hasn't waned in the months since former Atlanta Falcons quarterback Michael Vick went to federal prison for his role in a Virginia dogfighting ring.

"Right after Vick's indictment, that was the talk of the dogfighting world on message boards and chat rooms," Hunt said.

Investigators are getting fewer calls right now, said Melinda Merck, senior director of veterinary forensics for the Atlanta SPCA.

"We see less in the winter. People aren't out as much," she said. That will change as the weather warms, Merck said. "It's people being out, hearing, seeing, smelling, that leads to calls."

Said Hunt: "If you do a dog fighting investigation, you're virtually taking out a mini-crime syndicate. Child abuse, drugs ... you take out a lot of peripheral crime with it."

https://www.ajc.com/metro/content/metro/gwinnett/stories/2008/03/06/cruelty_0307.html

 

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