Iowa court: Killing dog with bat not torture

[steve2470]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2013/07/10/iowa-court-killing-dog-with-bat-not-torture/2507513/

DES MOINES, Iowa -- An Iowa Court of Appeals ruling tossing out the conviction of a man who beat a puppy to death likely will prompt public outrage, make such cases harder to prosecute in the future and launch work toward new legislation to close a loophole that made the decision possible, officials said Wednesday.

A three judge appellate panel voted 2-1 in a ruling issued Wednesday to overturn Zachary S. Meerdink's 2012 conviction for animal torture.

Court records show Meerdink, 31, of Scott County killed his 7-month-old Boston terrier with a baseball bat in December 2011 after the dog repeatedly made messes on the floor and bit his girlfriend's children.

Chief Judge Larry Eisenhauer and Judge Mary Tabor found that prosecutors failed to prove that Meerdink acted with a "depraved or sadistic intent to cause death" as spelled out in Iowa's animal torture law. Judge Anuradha Vaitheswaran countered in a dissenting opinion that "a responsible fact-finder could have found this conduct to be an extreme response to an ordinary and foreseeable occurrence."

[Egalitarian Thug]

1. Proud to be a muriken. n/t

[life long demo]

2. OMG This is sickening

Have to find out more about this. Incredible.

[veganlush]

3. most people condone

And support animal torture by purchasing factory farmed "products".

[cyberswede]

19. ...

[napkinz]

4. do I scream or cry first

Makes me sick!

[Ichingcarpenter]

5. He was out on parole

Meerdink, who was out on parole from a previous drug case in 2011, was sent back to prison after the torture arrest. Free on another parole since April 8, he could not be reached for comment Wednesday.


He blamed drugs on his behavior, but they were prescription....

[RandiFan1290]

6. The judges must be former cops

They love killing dogs

[shenmue]

7. Good Lord and pants!

The hell is wrong with the majority judges?

[renie408]

8. That's pretty fucked up.

[LuvNewcastle]

9. Looks depraved to me.

He probably didn't have the money to send the dog to obedience school, but he could have given the dog away or given it to the animal shelter. Or he could have kept the dog outside. He had plenty of options other than beating it to death.

[newfie11]

10. ASSHOLES!!!!!!!!!!!!'

If someone could do that to an innocent puppy for pottying in the floor. what do think he would do to a baby, child?

This is feaking INSANE! How can judges be so STUPID!!!!!!!

[KansDem]

11. Really? Beating a living creature to death is not...

..."depraved or sadistic intent to cause death?"

Man, I grew up in the wrong world!

[magical thyme]

12. somebody needs to take a baseball bat to those vile assholes masquerading as judges

maybe that will straighten out their dictionary. That vile, despicable scumbag dog torturer-killer shouldn't be allowed near animals or children.

I remember when my 7 month old Luna came home from death row at the high-kill shelter. He knew not to go in the house, but he was so anxious he would lose control and pee before I could get my boots on to let him outside. So I decided to trust him to not run straight for the road, and would just let him straight outside and follow him a couple minutes later after I had my boots and jacket on. Once he had a few successes, he started getting confidence and believing he could hold on. I don't remember when it simply stopped being an issue. It just did.

What the fuck is wrong with people?!?

[bike man]

13. How could they *not* consider beating with a bat torture. Surely their idea of

obediance training or puppy-housebreaking does not include periodic beatings.

That story makes me angry.

[sbh]

14. I think using a bat on a small dog is reasonably "depraved".

[Are_grits_groceries]

15. Let me whack them with a bat just 5 times

without even using a full swing.
I will disable them and have them rolling on the ground with well-placed swings. They'll know it's torture.

[steve2470]

16. kick for overnight crowd nt

[joeybee12]

17. Quite frankly, those 2 judges were looking for a way out...

Any REASONABLE person would see the intent was to cause death...a baseball bat, you fucking stupid judges!

[Nevernose]

18. The authoritarian position on animal cruelty

At least as demonstrated in my state, is that it would "overburden law enforcement." Since my local law enforcement -- like so many people's local law enforcement -- seems to mostly focus on shooting mentally ill people, violating civil rights, ruining people's lives because they don't want drugs to ruin their lives, and harassing brown-skinned people, I really don't see the threat of "overburdening" to be that scary.

[napkinz]

20. kick

nt