Well, she walked right up next to it. She got inside its "safe zone," irritating the poor animal to no end and it did the only thing it could do - shake it's head (and, subsequently, tore the woman from crotch to nose).
Ouch!
You know, if people were a bit more considerate of other animals (humans and otherwise), maybe there wouldn't be so many problems in the world.
Take, for instance the couple that came into the library the other day. Seems couple has a neighbor who has a dog. Every day for the last 3 years, neighbor walked dog over to couples front lawn, had the dog do its dooty on couple's lawn, doesn't pick-up said dooty, and goes back to her house.
She could have done it on her lawn but being the raging hag (and a bad neighbor) that she was, she chose to irritate her neighbors. That's "chose" as in what a b***h!
As you can imagine, couple became increasingly aggitated and no matter how many times they called the police, the police always said, "We're sorry but this is a civil matter. We don't get involved in civil matters." They tried calling city hall, they called county code enforcement - dang but they tried calling everyone and not one single county or city department would help.
Typical government. You know, I'll bet if couple was a cop, or a member of the city council, or they could prove neighbor voted for Trump or something, there'd be some action against neighbor. I'm just saying.
Anyway, one day, husband has had it and as dog is doing its thing, husband pops dog - mid-dooty - with his .22 rifle. Neighbor flips out and calls the cops. Cops come, arrest husband and charge him with (among other things) a violation of California Penal Code 597.
The problem husband was now dealing with is that if convicted of Penal Code 597 as a misdemeanor, he could be looking at up to one year in prison and a maximum $20,000 fine. If convicted as a felony, the penalty is up to 3 years in prison and the $20,000 maximum fine - all because of an inconsiderate neighbor.
Anyway, at wits end, couple is in front of me asking what they can do.
First thing they can do is hire an attorney. As it turned out while they were relating their story of woe, a criminal attorney was standing not 10 feet away - so they got his card (and scheduled an appointment).
Second thing they can do is get educated on what they're dealing with. So, I suggested they take a look at:
- California Penal Code 597 (Cruelty to animals)
- California Criminal Defense Practice (Lexis)
- Judicial Council of California Criminal Jury Instructions (CALCRIM) 2953
- California Practice Guide: Sentencing California Crimes (TR)
- California Criminal Law: procedure and practice (CEB)
Sometimes you can't win for losing. Good thing there are county law libraries (and, by extension, county law Librarians) waiting to help you get to your zen state of mind.
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