Just received this

OYS GET 10 YEARS FOR PUPPY TORTURE
by Keith Whitney, 11alive.com

ATLANTA, Georgia, Feb. 9, 2007: A pair of teenage Atlanta brothers will soon begin serving a ten-year prison sentence for the torture killing of a puppy.

The Moulder brothers, 19-year-old Justin and 17-year-old Joshua, pleaded guilty to binding the puppy in duct tape, then cooking the dog to death in a gas oven.

The boys threw themselves on the mercy of the court, but the court had other ideas.

"Your actions are totally despicable -- totally reprehensible," said the judge from the bench.

With that, the judge sentenced each of the boys to ten years.

"It's going to be rough on them," said defense attorney Timothy Owens. "We'll get on with our lives, but they're the ones who have to live with this. They're the ones who have to do the time, and quite frankly, the sentence didn't match up to the crime."

But the courtroom was packed with people who disagreed -- many believing the sentence was not long enough, given the brothers' conduct.

"That was very surprising, and actually frightening," said prosecutor Laura Janssen. "Just to see how little remorse they had, and how something so serious was so funny to them."

Thousands of people from around the world demanded justice in the case -- a rare outpouring that the D.A. did not ignore.

"We wanted to send a message to people in our county that we really respected the life of an animal in this case," said Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard.

Prosecutors said the case went way beyond animal abuse. They believe for the Moulder brothers, it was puppies first; humans next. And that the torture was little more than a rehearsal for murder.

Of course the killers of Little Jamie Bulger abused animals before they killed him & it is a fact that children who abuse animals frequently escalate the abuse to humans later in life

What an awful crime...........well done to the Judge

They should have got longer that poor puppy what a way to die. RIP little one. Hope the inmates make there lives hell on earth.

Wow! 10 years that is certainly sending a message, I agree if they had got away with it , it may have given them the green light to continue other terrible crimes, they obviously felt no empathy or had one ounce of humility in them, I doubt prison will make them more human, but at least they are off the streets to do no more harm.

What awful reading! Poor puppy :(

A good sentence - but perhaps they should have the same done to them as the puppy!

I didn't know that re: jamie bulgars killers abusing animals first.

They are young, will still be young when they are churned out by the American penal system, and I wonder what they will be like then :(  Recognising that animal abuse so often leads to crimes against humans I would have liked to see some sort of rehabilitation attempt rather than just throwing them in with some very dubious tutors for the next 10 years.

james bulgers killers are already out and living somewhere amongst us with our money paying to keep them as it did whilst they were inside. bring back the death penalty is what i want.

How do you know they are not working and payng taxes or do you mean paying to keep them safe from criminal retaliation?  I think the death penalty is barbaric enough without considering doing it to children whatever their crime.  Our justice system recognises the limitations of culpability in minors and the humanity of allowing scope for repentance and rehabilitation, thankfully.

living somewhere amongst us with our money paying to keep them
Actually they are both working so that part of your post is incorrect

As to the death penalty what happens when a mistake is made & an innocent person is convicted & executed ? It that ok & a price that you are willing to pay ? What happens if it was your son or daughter that was innocent but found guilty & executed ?? I think your attitude would change dramatically

how do you know they are working do you know who they are? i, like you, am only going on what i read and i believe it costs over 100 thousand pounds each to give them new identities. as far as the death penalty goes, now we have forensic science i dont think that many mistakes are now made but no point in the debate because it will never happen in uk. im just saying that i wish it would and im entitled to my opinion.

>how do you know they are working do you know who they are? i, like you, am only going on what i read and i believe it costs over 100 thousand pounds each to give them new identities. as far as the death penalty goes, now we have forensic science i dont think that many mistakes are now made but no point in the debate because it will never happen in uk. im just saying that i wish it would and im entitled to my opinion.

It is a matter of public record that both are working, albeit with any details of their new identities or whereabouts I suggest you do some simple research

I have no interest in where they are nor of what their new identities are

As for modern science being infallible Sorry but their are quite recent cases(ie since the introduction of DNA testing etc)that would have resulted in innocent people being executed. It isn't difficult to "plant"DNA even in rape cases to implicate an innocent party

What you want is the right to play God Just as a matter of interest the highest murder rates in the USA are in the states that have the death penalty which in the words of Albert Pierrepoint(the last UK hangman)"Having seen many convicted murderers die, the death penalty is no deterrant, none who either admitted guilt or had cast iron cases against them ever showed any remorse"

This includes the war criminals he executed & Christie, Albert executed Timothy Evans, who was wrongly convicted of two murders that Christie carried out, he never believed that Evans was guilty bTW

You would quite like to see a 10 year old swinging on a gibbet? :)

Nice to see they get something of what they deserve.  May this encourage more judges to put away those who harm animals.

Oh my goodness this makes me feel so sick inside, the poor poor puppy - thankfully they have been brought to justice - altough I'm not convinced 10 years is enough ! 

I agree with Isabel on this one.  It has been found that those who commit torturous (sp?) murders have often been found to have been children who were cruel to animals.  Cruelty to animals, especially to the degree in OP should be viewed as an indicator of potentially serious crimes against people (and animals) in the future.  Punishing them should be in conjunction with changing their faulty thinking.

Child killing children in the past have been very successfully rehabilitated and although we might never forgive them or forget what they did (and we shouldn't forget), surely rehabilitation is preferable is the long term aim.  Sooner or later these people come back into society so it's in all our interests to ensure they are safe and pay their own way in society.

>just throwing them in with some very dubious tutors for the next 10 years

Youth worker on TV this morning was talking about the black on black crime that is rife at the moment.  She said that sending the teenagers to prison is not working because the teenagers see it as a university.  Something is very wrong with our penal system if we are not trying to change the criminal behaviour while we have them under lock and key.

This report is from America Cheryl, I think they spend even less effort on rehabilitation and, in a country that appears to practice their Christianity more than we do, there seems very little sense of redemption.

Gordon Bennett! Just read back my post and the grammar is worse than usual Can only put blame on the all the pain killers I've taken fuddling my already fuddled brain. 

>in a country that appears to practice their Christianity more than we do

'Appears' being the operative word there! Did you see Top Gear this week? Where the team were threatened, stoned and chased out of the state of Alabama because they offended the 'Christians'? Seriously scary people.

I saw that.  OH thought it was staged but I didn't think so myself.

I'm afraid the hypocrisy is astounding and quite frightening in some religious quarters of America. 

No, that wasn't staged. They were in real trouble.

Yes, I did choose my words carefully ;)

I cant help but hope they get 10 years of hell,but will they ever look back and regret?I doubt it,how can you teach compassion? 10 years might just give them enough time to think it over,but for their future,who knows what they will turn out to be.