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Speaker 1: Do you know another parent or expecting parent. Are you

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Speaker 1: you're out of the mall or the store, or the grocery,

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Speaker 1: in the parking lot at home. Find out about protection

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Speaker 1: regarding babysitters, in daycare, even online. I'd rather have that

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Speaker 1: any day of the week than a plastic toy our

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Speaker 1: God forbid a toy gun. Join Justice Nation, go to

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Speaker 1: Crime stops here dot com. Goodbye friend, Crime Stories with

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Speaker 1: Nancy Grace. You know there's three year old dog in

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Speaker 1: perfectly good, healthy condition that we dropped off in the

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Speaker 1: morning that is now decease. A coming police spokeswoman tells

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Speaker 1: the eleven Alive. Once they began investigating Miko's death in October,

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Speaker 1: they received even more complaints against Route that led to

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Speaker 1: another investigation than in the Grand Juri's indictment. As second charge,

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Speaker 1: Route allegedly caused physical harm to a dog named Little Boy,

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Speaker 1: which led to his spleen rupturing. Miko was sweet, just compete.

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Speaker 1: He would sleep on my pillow every night. Evidence and

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Speaker 1: details now being released in the trial of a well

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Speaker 1: respected pet groomer. But what happened to the pet? I

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Speaker 1: Nancy Grace, this is Crime Stories. Thank you for being

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Speaker 1: with us. The most vulnerable in our society, tortured, mistreated,

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Speaker 1: actually dead. Right now, a jury is hearing evidence in

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Speaker 1: the trial of Michelle Louise Root, a dog room or

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Speaker 1: a well respected dog rumor, who has been charged with

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Speaker 1: two counts of animal cruelty. Straight out to our friend,

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Speaker 1: Jane Les Mitchell, founder of Jane un Chained dot com

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Speaker 1: Jane in a nutshell, what happened to Miko? Well, Um,

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Speaker 1: Miko was being groomed and witnesses told police they saw

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Speaker 1: Miko be choked, kicked in the head, bounced off the

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Speaker 1: wall October seven during this grooming session. And what happened

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Speaker 1: was when the man who was friends of the dog's

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Speaker 1: owner came to pick the dog up. Um, they said allegedly, Oh,

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Speaker 1: he must have had a seizure. And another thing that

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Speaker 1: he was told was, oh, he's just really relaxed. Indeed,

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Speaker 1: they were grooming a dead dog on the table. And

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Speaker 1: the woman who runs this facility is now in court

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Speaker 1: because she's the one who allegedly did commit all this

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Speaker 1: violence from this jevlist. Just hold on just a moment, guys.

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Speaker 1: I just gotta take him what she's saying, grooming a

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Speaker 1: dead dog. I've gotta tell you, guys. First, let me

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Speaker 1: introduce my guests. I got carried away about maka j

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Speaker 1: ls mischie with me my longtime colleague colleague Jane on

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Speaker 1: chain dot com. Alan Dieck of course joined me from

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Speaker 1: l a longtime colleague, attorney Claudine Wilkins, animal law expert,

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Speaker 1: founder of Animal Law source dot org. Veterans trial lawyer

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Speaker 1: Penny Douglas fur of the Atlanta Jurisdiction. Eric Francis, a

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Speaker 1: witness in this case and founder of Justice from Miko

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Speaker 1: dot com Justice for the Number four Miko dot com

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Speaker 1: to you, Eric Francis, I'm I'm just reeling and this

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Speaker 1: is so significant. I just wanted to tell you recently,

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Speaker 1: we are a house full of pets here. We've got

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Speaker 1: a rescue dog, fat Boy. He was billed as a

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Speaker 1: thoroughbred dockson. He's so not. He's the thoroughbred muck, but

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Speaker 1: he's got the heart of a lion. We have the

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Speaker 1: rescue cat Cinnamon, and we have now to rescue guineas.

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Speaker 1: I mean, I didn't even know they existed from oak

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Speaker 1: Khurst Guinea Pig Rescue. Yes, Abby and Chloe who run

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Speaker 1: my life. The other day, I was with the twins

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Speaker 1: and we were at um I guess pet smarter, you

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Speaker 1: know one of the chains, and I saw a dog

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Speaker 1: getting groom and they had a collar around the dog's

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Speaker 1: neck attached to like a chain or something tethered so

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Speaker 1: the dog couldn't move while it was being shaved. And

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Speaker 1: all three of us stood there and went that doesn't

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Speaker 1: look right, but I know that that is an accepted

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Speaker 1: method of grooming, so the dog doesn't like bite you

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Speaker 1: or run away get cut. I don't understand what happened

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Speaker 1: to Miko. Is it Miko or Mika? It's uh, it's

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Speaker 1: Miko mm Ko. And I just need to let you

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Speaker 1: know that the owner of Miko just stepped out of

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Speaker 1: the courtroom and was was bringing my ear about what's

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Speaker 1: going on. So the trial is actively happening as we speak.

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Speaker 1: Eric Francis, tell me what happened, so make it as

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Speaker 1: concise as I can. Uh. The owner asked me to

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Speaker 1: pick up her dog. When I arrived, Miko was laying

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Speaker 1: on the table. One of Michelle's groomors was grooming the dog,

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Speaker 1: who after I walked over to him, I discovered that

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Speaker 1: he was dead or he was in the it's the dying.

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Speaker 1: We rushed into the hospital the emergency vet. He was

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Speaker 1: pronounced dead. We didn't know anything had happened until about

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Speaker 1: fifteen minutes later. We got a call from the coming

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Speaker 1: police department saying that they needed us to come to

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Speaker 1: the police department, that they had had a witness come

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Speaker 1: forward with a statement saying that they had witnessed the

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Speaker 1: alleged Michelle Root abusing the dog and actually killing him

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Speaker 1: in the shop. I don't I don't get it. I

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Speaker 1: just I don't understand. To Claudine Wilkins joining me, animal

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Speaker 1: law expert, founder of Animal law source dot org, Claudine,

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Speaker 1: you're a very well respected lawyer and you've devoted your

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Speaker 1: life to saving animals. I don't understand why somebody would

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Speaker 1: have a grooming business. This one was called the pause

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Speaker 1: p a w apostrophe s h poush pause in coming

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Speaker 1: now arrested, now on trial. Why would you even have

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Speaker 1: a business if you don't like animals. We see this

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Speaker 1: a lot, Nancy, unfortunately. I mean we we see a

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Speaker 1: lot of victims of child molestation in the setting where

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Speaker 1: um people are teachers and and and it's it's beyond understanding.

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Speaker 1: But keep in mind this this person has also been

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Speaker 1: charged for the similar event just a year before, so

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Speaker 1: this is a pattern here. And not knowing anything about

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Speaker 1: the defendant, she's obviously taking out her aggressions on her

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Speaker 1: very own, voiceless clients, and somebody has to do something

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Speaker 1: about it. I would have liked to have seen someone

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Speaker 1: arrest her back in two thousand and sixteen when Little Boy,

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Speaker 1: the dog that was also killed, uh ruptured spleen and

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Speaker 1: and so on. I mean, these these reports go back

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Speaker 1: to two thousand when she worked at Pet Smart as

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Speaker 1: a groomer there. So we see a lot of this

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Speaker 1: happening because the victim can't speak and they know if

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Speaker 1: they get, you know, get away with it, they keep

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Speaker 1: continuing to do it. It's repetitive behavior. There's something going wrong. Well, Frankly, Claudine,

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Speaker 1: I really think there's something wrong with them in the mind.

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Speaker 1: If these allegations are true. Guys, this has gone to

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Speaker 1: a full on jury trial. Five women nine men in

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Speaker 1: the jury were sworn in by Superior Court Judge David

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Speaker 1: Dickinson to take a listen to the evidence, and I

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Speaker 1: was listening as the district attorney the a d A.

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Speaker 1: Michael Mahoney, and his opening statements was talking about trust,

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Speaker 1: that that is what allows us to take our pets

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Speaker 1: to a groomer. We trust the dog will be cared for,

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Speaker 1: that they will be treated safely, respectfully. We trust it

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Speaker 1: won't be beaten, kicked, brutalized, choked, And that's what people

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Speaker 1: expected from this woman. But according to the prosecutor to employees.

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Speaker 1: These are not just bystanders, these are employees. Come forward

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Speaker 1: and state that this woman Root dragged a dog named

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Speaker 1: Echo through the halls of the store, slamming into walls,

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Speaker 1: kicking and choking it until it died. She got the

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Speaker 1: dog out front and then put it on the table,

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Speaker 1: hung it up too high for its pause. I guess

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Speaker 1: in that manner I was describing that I saw at

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Speaker 1: one of the chains and the dog choked. It choked

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Speaker 1: to death. To Eric Francis, a witness in this case, Ah,

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Speaker 1: he is telling us today about justice from Miko dot com. Eric,

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Speaker 1: what's your understanding of how Miko died? Exactly? My understanding

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Speaker 1: from the nerdcropsy report is that he had bruises around

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Speaker 1: his neck. He had multiple hematomas or ruptures of blood

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Speaker 1: vessels through his body. I actually had to step out

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Speaker 1: while the u D a U professor that was giving

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Speaker 1: the report on the nercropsy, to take the phone call

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Speaker 1: and actually speak with you. So I'm not exactly I

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Speaker 1: read the necropsy report, but it's very hard to get

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Speaker 1: through because from what I read as a novice medical person,

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Speaker 1: and I look at the evidence from the description of

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Speaker 1: what happens. It pretty much matches up. But the reason

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Speaker 1: that little Boy was the case for a Little Boy

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Speaker 1: was brought was because of the evidence that we brought

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Speaker 1: forward and made public with through Justice for Miko, and

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Speaker 1: then people started connecting the dot. One of the biggest

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Speaker 1: challenges is that the punishment for animal abuse is so little.

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Speaker 1: We need to make it stronger. We need to make

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Speaker 1: the the punishment strong. Well, stop right there, stop right here,

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Speaker 1: plays Eric Eric Francis with me used to the name

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Speaker 1: little Boy. Who's little Boy? I'm sorry the dog prior

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Speaker 1: a year prior that had been killed that with two

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Speaker 1: felony counts. Okay, I need you here, I need to

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Speaker 1: hear the whole thing start at the beginning. Um. I

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Speaker 1: got the story of Miko from Jane Les Mitchell. But

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Speaker 1: could you explain to me how the whole thing started,

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Speaker 1: Eric Francis, So there's not just one dead dog. How

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Speaker 1: many are there felony animal abuse charges against her? One

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Speaker 1: is for Miko and the other one is for a

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Speaker 1: dog that had happened one year earlier called little Boy.

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Speaker 1: Is a well respected dog groom or a female dog

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Speaker 1: groomer who ran the business Pause Pause now on trial

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Speaker 1: for two felony counts. How many dogs are dead? We

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Speaker 1: first heard about it here at Crime Stories when we

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Speaker 1: found out about justice from Miko dot com. But now

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Speaker 1: we're learning there are more dead dogs right now. Back

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Speaker 1: to Eric Francis, a witness in the case that is

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Speaker 1: happening right now in a felony courtroom. Eric, how many

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Speaker 1: dogs allegedly died at the hands of this dog. I

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Speaker 1: didn't even want to say groomer, because if this is true,

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Speaker 1: she's diabolical. How many dogs are dead? Eric? Well? The

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Speaker 1: ForSight County Police Department charged her with two counts of

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Speaker 1: felony animal abuse, one for our dog, Miko, and another

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Speaker 1: for a dog approximately a year earlier named little Boy. Okay,

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Speaker 1: who is the little boy? And how did that happen?

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Speaker 1: Same way? Grooming little Boy? From the testimony that I

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Speaker 1: heard in the courtroom, little Boy was dropped off to

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Speaker 1: be groomed and uh in in perfectly healthy condition. At

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Speaker 1: some point the owner of Posh Pause called the owner

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Speaker 1: of Little Boy and said, this dog has bruises all

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Speaker 1: over him and he's lethargic. They rushed over to get him.

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Speaker 1: They rushed him to two different hospitals in which they

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Speaker 1: found out that he had bruises all over his body.

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Speaker 1: I believe it was a broken rib, a ruptured spleen,

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Speaker 1: and he was euthanized because of the rupture in his spleen.

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Speaker 1: The owner didn't want him to go through any more.

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Speaker 1: Uh suffering. How do you drop your dog off just

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Speaker 1: to get groomed and it ends up with broken ribs

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Speaker 1: and ruptured spleen. My fellow dog lover joining me right now,

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Speaker 1: long time in veteran trial lawyer Penny Douglas fur who.

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Speaker 1: The first time I was ever in Penny's house, Uh,

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Speaker 1: let me just say I was greeted at the front

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Speaker 1: door by about five rottweilers running. Let me just say

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Speaker 1: wild through her house. She doesn't think so they sleep

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Speaker 1: in the bed, They get treats of peanut butter bombs.

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Speaker 1: I mean, they get treated better than most people get treated.

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Speaker 1: That's when I found out her deep love for animals.

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Speaker 1: Then I found out she has pro bono for free

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Speaker 1: handled so many animal cases. She's turned into an expert. Penny,

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Speaker 1: you know, I'm so worried about Fat Boy and Cinnamon.

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Speaker 1: Do you know we washed them and bathe them and

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Speaker 1: take care of them ourselves that I mean, if I

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Speaker 1: have to go on a vacation with the twins, I

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Speaker 1: used to board them. Now I have somebody come in

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Speaker 1: and feed them and take care of them because I'm

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Speaker 1: so worried. My husband says, we spend more money having

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Speaker 1: the animals taking care of than we spend on our vacation.

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Speaker 1: He said, the main cost of our vacations is taking

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Speaker 1: care of the animals. But this is not the first time.

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Speaker 1: Needs We were called a few years ago on another

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Speaker 1: case where a dog was killed by a groomer, and

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Speaker 1: I don't think it was intentional. They just had that

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Speaker 1: dog with the thing around his neck, the leash around

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Speaker 1: his neck. They walked off and left him. He tried

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Speaker 1: to jump off the table and it strangled him to

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Speaker 1: do Wait a minute, Penny, I can only compare this

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Speaker 1: too when I would change the twins die piece or

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Speaker 1: put them on a changing table. I mean, there's a

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Speaker 1: little fence, a fence, a wall, a barrier so they

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Speaker 1: can't roll off for Pete's sakes, Well, they don't have that.

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Speaker 1: I don't that I know of. With dog rumors, and

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Speaker 1: I remember these people wanted to file a civil suit.

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Speaker 1: The problem is Nancy that in Georgia at least, and

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Speaker 1: in some other states also, animals are considered property, so

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Speaker 1: if it's a mixed breed or a rescue, they don't

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Speaker 1: consider it worth more than say forty or fifty dollars.

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Speaker 1: Oh my star. A civil suit they get fifty dollars.

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Speaker 1: So we've got to do something to change the value.

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Speaker 1: We've had a case already go to the Supreme Court

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Speaker 1: of Georgia and they found that yes, you can get

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Speaker 1: your vet bills back, but if your dog's dead, there's

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Speaker 1: no vet bills, and we have to other than just

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Speaker 1: as property. Well, I want to also go to Jane

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Speaker 1: Villis Mitchell, founder of Jane Unchained dot com and champions

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Speaker 1: animals rights. I mean, Jane, if this were a person

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Speaker 1: with broken ribs and a ruptured spleen and they die

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Speaker 1: that way, then we find out that this was not

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Speaker 1: the first time incident. Reports had been filed with the

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Speaker 1: local police department in coming alleging that during the incident,

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Speaker 1: she Michelle Route, caused the death of Miko by kicking

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Speaker 1: him and choking the dog with a lead. And then

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Speaker 1: we find out there was another incident where the dogs

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Speaker 1: spleen was ruptured. What I wonder is how many other

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Speaker 1: dogs have died at her hands, Nancy. People are coming

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Speaker 1: out of the woodwork calling law enforcement. They said, Hey,

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Speaker 1: if anybody has had a similar experience, and people are

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Speaker 1: just calling and calling, this could go back decades. They

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Speaker 1: are reportedly protesting outside the store where all of this

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Speaker 1: allegedly happened. And this is a very common, common, tragic story,

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Speaker 1: and your other guests is absolutely right. It will continue

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Speaker 1: as long as animals are considered mirror property. That's why

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Speaker 1: there's a whole move an actual organization called the Non

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Speaker 1: Human Rights Project that is fighting in court to have

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Speaker 1: animals considered non human persons. Once they get personhood, they

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Speaker 1: have more rights. Joining me, uh, Eric Francis, who witnessed

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Speaker 1: in the case, Eric, Ever since Justice for Miko was started,

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Speaker 1: you can log on I'm looking at it right now,

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Speaker 1: Justice for the Number four m e Ko dot com.

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Speaker 1: Ever since that came out and proponents including you, of

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Speaker 1: Miko's law, asking to change the law happened, people are

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Speaker 1: coming out of the woodwork. Just like Jane Las said,

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Speaker 1: multiple calls coming in from other potential victims that go

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Speaker 1: all the way back to the early two thousands. Are

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Speaker 1: all of these allegations against the same person, Michelle Louise Roots. Well,

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Speaker 1: from what I saw yesterday from the two police officer

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Speaker 1: is when they walked in, they each had about a

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Speaker 1: four inch file that they were going through, so eight

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Speaker 1: inches of of testimony that they had to go through.

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Speaker 1: UM a lot of this, like I said, is once

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Speaker 1: you start connecting the dots, people really started wondering, you know,

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Speaker 1: why was it that, Why was it that I had

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Speaker 1: to take my dog to the vet right after I

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Speaker 1: picked him up from her? Or there were other instances

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Speaker 1: of not necessarily death, but cuts, bruises, things that they

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Speaker 1: really couldn't figure out how it happened. And I understand

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Speaker 1: from talking to groomers that you know, nicking a dog

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Speaker 1: or a cat or or an animal while you're grooming

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Speaker 1: them can happen, But it's all in what you do

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Speaker 1: after the fact. It's the follow up how do you

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Speaker 1: handle it? Uh. You can look at situations that are

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Speaker 1: going with some of the big box retailers now that

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Speaker 1: have had forty eight deaths across the nation from one

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Speaker 1: of the pet places that's a big box grooming facility.

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Speaker 1: When you're saying big box grooming, what are you talking about? Exactly.

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Speaker 1: The pet smart places like yeah, like the chains, yeah,

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Speaker 1: the chains and what what what about the chains? Well,

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Speaker 1: it's just it's troubling that they you know, that they

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Speaker 1: allow that they allow the stuff to go on. The

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Speaker 1: trial is happening right now. Claudine Wilkins, who worked with

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Speaker 1: me in the Fulton County District Attorney's office, That's how

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Speaker 1: I first met her, now the proponent with an animal

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Speaker 1: law expert with animal law source dot org. Here's the thing.

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Speaker 1: Remember when we would put together felony trials, Claudine and

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Speaker 1: I would go and speak with each witness and assess

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Speaker 1: their credibility on the stand. If you look at this woman, Claudine,

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Speaker 1: and this this is gonna be a problem for the state.

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Speaker 1: She looks like a soccer mom. She's got the long

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Speaker 1: frosted hair. I mean, she's all preppied out. She looks

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Speaker 1: like who you would see in some private school drop

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Speaker 1: offline dropping off her soccer kids. And when people see

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Speaker 1: someone like that, Claudine, it's hard for them to merge

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Speaker 1: what they're seeing with the cold hard facts from the

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Speaker 1: stand about kicking and beating and choking a helpless dog

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Speaker 1: on purpose. That's a problem for the state, Claudine, it is.

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Speaker 1: It is a problem. Now her mug shot, I would say,

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Speaker 1: doesn't reflect too much of that, but I would say this,

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Speaker 1: she obviously has something disturbing going on, and these poor

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Speaker 1: voiceless animals were her whipping post. And I think Miko's

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Speaker 1: justice comes from the fact that witnesses got to see it.

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Speaker 1: Imagine if there's more and no one got to see it,

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Speaker 1: we will never hear about those cases. But she's been

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Speaker 1: a groomer according to the reports since two thousands. Um.

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Speaker 1: I believe there's probably more out there, but you know,

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Speaker 1: we'll see and I can tell you that finally and

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Speaker 1: where to our laws changed to include felony, and we

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Speaker 1: were one of the last states to get felonies, and

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Speaker 1: we revamped our laws just recently because you could literally

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Speaker 1: torture an animal for as long as you had the animal,

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Speaker 1: but if you did not mayment, disfigure it or kill it,

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Speaker 1: you would never be charged as a phone. But that's

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Speaker 1: changed since two thousand fourteen. And she's looking at some

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Speaker 1: serious time here. And I you know, this case has

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Speaker 1: gotten some notoriety, which is great, but we I get

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Speaker 1: cases every day. Just yesterday, a horse was stabbed with

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Speaker 1: a stick, and they're wondering if they should charge as

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Speaker 1: a felony, And the answer is absolutely, of course yes.

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Speaker 1: I was reading the other about two or three days

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Speaker 1: ago actually, where a man had sex assaulted a dog

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Speaker 1: over and over and over until the dog became so

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Speaker 1: hostile they euthanized the dogs they could not rehabilitate the

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Speaker 1: dog anymore. If that guy does not go to jail

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Speaker 1: for at least twenty years, I'm just gonna I'm gonna

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Speaker 1: lead a protest. And now, in this case, investigators searching

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Speaker 1: Michelle Louise Roots business and residents after police receive reports

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Speaker 1: of other possible pet victims going all the way back

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Speaker 1: to the early two thousand. The first set of charges

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Speaker 1: and claims began when Root allegedly brutally kicks, drags, and

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Speaker 1: chokes a customer's dog that later died in an animal hospital.

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Speaker 1: And I'm getting that from a police report. Justice from

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Speaker 1: Miko dot com. The trial is happening now to you, Claudine.

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Speaker 1: If the If she's found guilty and the judge sentences

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Speaker 1: her consecutively, in other words, one sentence following the next,

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Speaker 1: not running concurrently at the same time, how much time

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Speaker 1: can root do behind bars for a first defense felony,

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Speaker 1: she's king up up to five years. For the second

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Speaker 1: offense up to ten years, and those could be consecutive,

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Speaker 1: so fifteen. The trial goes on as more claims pour

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Speaker 1: in to the Sheriff's office. Window treatments is one of

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Speaker 1: those terms for something necessary but boring. Your blinds. You

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Speaker 1: don't even think about them unless you move or they break. Well.

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Speaker 1: When they're right, everything in your home looks better, but

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Speaker 1: when they're wrong, everything in your home looks tacky. But

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Speaker 1: let's be honest, taking the time and the effort to

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Speaker 1: pick out and buy blind sounds expensive, boring, and then

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Speaker 1: think of installing them yourself. Who wants to do that?

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Speaker 1: But blinds dot com makes it really easy for you.

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Speaker 1: I'm not sure what you want or even where to start.

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Speaker 1: With blinds dot com, you get a free online design consultation,

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Speaker 1: send them pictures of your home. They send back custom

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Speaker 1: send you free samples to make sure everything looks as

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Speaker 1: good in person as it does online. And every order

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Speaker 1: gets free shipping. And this is the best part. If

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Speaker 1: mess it up, blinds dot Com will remake your blinds

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Speaker 1: easy for you. There's no excuse to leave up mangled

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Speaker 1: everything Blinds dot Com Promo code Nancy. Rules and restrictions

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Speaker 1: do apply. Crime stories with Nancy Grace the Tillary County

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Speaker 1: Sheriff's offices. These two men, Angel Valencia, and his nephew,

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Speaker 1: eighteen year old Carlos Rivera, killed their own dogs at

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Speaker 1: a property near a Rosy The reason. Authorities say they

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Speaker 1: believe the dogs, a German shepherd mix and a husky,

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Speaker 1: killed their baby pigs. When deputy showed up, they found

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Speaker 1: the two dead dogs and the two suspects, their clothes

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Speaker 1: stained with blood as we wait for a verdict in

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Speaker 1: the trial of a female pet groomer now charged with

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Speaker 1: two counts, including dead pets she was grooming. We now

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Speaker 1: go across the country and alleged dog killers. More are

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Speaker 1: dog killers charged with animal cruelty. Two men have been

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Speaker 1: arrested for hanging dogs, hanging dogs. Who would want to

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Speaker 1: even do that? Hanging dogs and beating them to death

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Speaker 1: with sticks according to the t Larry County Sheriff. And

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Speaker 1: joining me right now is the to Larry County Sheriff,

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Speaker 1: Sheriff of Michael Bougereau. What an honor to have you

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Speaker 1: on in a cause that is very dear to my heart.

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Speaker 1: You know I've been telling pet stories the whole time

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Speaker 1: we've been on the air, but I gotta tell you

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Speaker 1: one more, and this is about a cat and um

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Speaker 1: Claudine Wilkins with me, Penny Douglas for with me, Alan

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Speaker 1: Duke with me, and James les Mitchell. Most of you

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Speaker 1: know of Coco and Penny. You actually helped me search

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Speaker 1: for Coco and it almost caused me a split with

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Speaker 1: my now husband when Coco went missing on his watch

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Speaker 1: and I was out of town in d C doing

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Speaker 1: Larry King, Penny Douglas fur and I still have the posters, Penny, uh,

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Speaker 1: we put up all over the neighborhood. I told David

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Speaker 1: if he didn't that cat was not found, we were

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Speaker 1: splitting up. That was it because he had Coco. Coco

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Speaker 1: went missing on his watch. It was his fault, Penny.

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Speaker 1: It's not funny. I mean I could hardly. I could

427
00:27:14,280 --> 00:27:15,960
Speaker 1: hardly get on the air that and I was filling

428
00:27:15,960 --> 00:27:18,560
Speaker 1: in for Larry King, and all I could think about

429
00:27:18,640 --> 00:27:23,600
Speaker 1: was and the cat. Um David's nephew, and I'll let

430
00:27:23,680 --> 00:27:26,200
Speaker 1: him be nameless. Slammed the cat's tail in the door

431
00:27:26,280 --> 00:27:28,720
Speaker 1: at a Christmas party one time in the screen door,

432
00:27:29,080 --> 00:27:31,359
Speaker 1: but the till had to be amputated. And I still

433
00:27:31,440 --> 00:27:35,119
Speaker 1: have the poster that says solid black cat, green eyes,

434
00:27:35,200 --> 00:27:38,760
Speaker 1: no tel five dollar reward. Well we found the cat.

435
00:27:39,600 --> 00:27:42,520
Speaker 1: The cat uh my beloved Cocoa. And I was not

436
00:27:42,600 --> 00:27:44,879
Speaker 1: a cat person at all. In fact, I was highly allergic.

437
00:27:45,240 --> 00:27:48,760
Speaker 1: But he kept coming to David's door in midtown Atlanta,

438
00:27:48,800 --> 00:27:51,080
Speaker 1: begging from milk, and I would feed the cat feed.

439
00:27:51,160 --> 00:27:53,400
Speaker 1: Finally I fell in love and I just took him

440
00:27:53,480 --> 00:27:58,600
Speaker 1: and um he became my love and he stayed with

441
00:27:58,640 --> 00:28:02,080
Speaker 1: me for eighteen years and throughout my pregnancy he would

442
00:28:02,800 --> 00:28:06,640
Speaker 1: keep me going. And right after the twins were born,

443
00:28:06,680 --> 00:28:10,320
Speaker 1: he went to heaven and let me just say, obviously

444
00:28:10,359 --> 00:28:14,040
Speaker 1: became a cat person. You know, pets means so much

445
00:28:14,080 --> 00:28:19,240
Speaker 1: to people, and to think, oh, Sheriff, sorry, to think

446
00:28:19,280 --> 00:28:23,000
Speaker 1: that somebody can do this to a pet, It just

447
00:28:23,119 --> 00:28:25,719
Speaker 1: hurts me so badly. Sheriff. I'm gonna have to let

448
00:28:25,760 --> 00:28:28,360
Speaker 1: you tell the facts of this case as you know them,

449
00:28:28,400 --> 00:28:31,440
Speaker 1: because they're just horrible. You bet. It's just really shocking

450
00:28:31,440 --> 00:28:34,199
Speaker 1: to the census. And we're in central California. We're right

451
00:28:34,240 --> 00:28:37,320
Speaker 1: in the middle of California. We produce a great deal

452
00:28:37,359 --> 00:28:41,400
Speaker 1: of agriculture for the nation. We love our animals here.

453
00:28:41,880 --> 00:28:44,720
Speaker 1: In this case, as was truly shocking to the senses.

454
00:28:44,800 --> 00:28:47,000
Speaker 1: Even when it hit our local media that was people

455
00:28:47,080 --> 00:28:50,440
Speaker 1: just outraged and rightfully. So what happened is is we

456
00:28:50,480 --> 00:28:53,280
Speaker 1: had two neighbors. They were in dispute with each other.

457
00:28:54,040 --> 00:28:58,280
Speaker 1: Um there was some allegations of you know, some harmed

458
00:28:58,680 --> 00:29:02,640
Speaker 1: animals and such. So these two suspects in this case,

459
00:29:02,680 --> 00:29:06,680
Speaker 1: Angel Perez Valentia and Carlos Rivera, they decided to take

460
00:29:06,720 --> 00:29:10,280
Speaker 1: the neighbors dogs and they hanged them by the next,

461
00:29:10,400 --> 00:29:12,640
Speaker 1: one by one up in a tree like an old

462
00:29:12,680 --> 00:29:18,840
Speaker 1: Western movie. Truly disgusting. Uh. The animals were flailing about,

463
00:29:19,000 --> 00:29:21,840
Speaker 1: gasping for airs. They hung by the neck, and that

464
00:29:21,920 --> 00:29:24,160
Speaker 1: just to make it, to make it even worse, what

465
00:29:24,200 --> 00:29:26,600
Speaker 1: they began to do is both of the men began

466
00:29:26,760 --> 00:29:30,960
Speaker 1: beating the dogs with sticks like a pinata until they

467
00:29:31,000 --> 00:29:34,840
Speaker 1: were dead. There was it gruesome, to say the least,

468
00:29:35,400 --> 00:29:37,480
Speaker 1: and they did it one by one, all of this

469
00:29:37,680 --> 00:29:41,000
Speaker 1: being on video as neighbors began videwing from cell phones

470
00:29:41,040 --> 00:29:43,360
Speaker 1: and such in modern day as do things. As you

471
00:29:43,400 --> 00:29:46,240
Speaker 1: could imagine, one of the ladies described that she could

472
00:29:46,320 --> 00:29:50,560
Speaker 1: no longer even video from her kitchen window. She had

473
00:29:50,600 --> 00:29:53,960
Speaker 1: to close the drapes because she was becoming a nauseous

474
00:29:54,080 --> 00:29:56,680
Speaker 1: just from the actions that was taking place. Way did

475
00:29:56,760 --> 00:29:59,920
Speaker 1: anybody call nine one one share? Did anybody call nine

476
00:30:00,000 --> 00:30:03,080
Speaker 1: and one while this was happening? Initially know the woman

477
00:30:03,560 --> 00:30:06,680
Speaker 1: who pulled the drape's clothes, She was just so disgusted

478
00:30:06,720 --> 00:30:09,920
Speaker 1: and she she she felt sick. But fortunately another neighbor

479
00:30:09,920 --> 00:30:13,440
Speaker 1: of filming they did in fact call um and we respond.

480
00:30:13,520 --> 00:30:16,440
Speaker 1: By the time we get there, both dogs had had

481
00:30:16,480 --> 00:30:18,719
Speaker 1: already been killed, but we had to search for the dogs.

482
00:30:18,800 --> 00:30:21,760
Speaker 1: But it was almost like a homicide scene because there

483
00:30:21,880 --> 00:30:25,760
Speaker 1: was a tremendous amount of blood everywhere. We did find

484
00:30:25,800 --> 00:30:29,200
Speaker 1: one suspect right away. It was blood all over his clothing.

485
00:30:29,760 --> 00:30:33,200
Speaker 1: It was pretty gruesome. In one of the cases, the dog,

486
00:30:33,760 --> 00:30:37,000
Speaker 1: it just was not dying as it was hanging from

487
00:30:37,040 --> 00:30:41,080
Speaker 1: its noose um and what took place next is is

488
00:30:41,120 --> 00:30:45,600
Speaker 1: almost unbearable to even speak of. But they took pruning

489
00:30:45,680 --> 00:30:50,280
Speaker 1: shears to the neck trying to completely decapitate the animal.

490
00:30:50,680 --> 00:30:53,280
Speaker 1: We came in, we had animal control come in. We

491
00:30:53,400 --> 00:30:57,040
Speaker 1: made two felony arrests here in California. It's a felony. Uh.

492
00:30:57,080 --> 00:31:00,160
Speaker 1: They're facing very serious jail time and reference of this.

493
00:31:00,320 --> 00:31:02,600
Speaker 1: And right now they sit in my county jail with me.

494
00:31:02,840 --> 00:31:05,680
Speaker 1: Right now is a very special guest who is joining

495
00:31:05,800 --> 00:31:10,800
Speaker 1: us on these horrific animal cruelty cases. Sheriff Michael Boudreau

496
00:31:10,880 --> 00:31:14,920
Speaker 1: and Hilarry County Sheriff. From my understanding, it was about

497
00:31:14,960 --> 00:31:17,960
Speaker 1: eight pm when your deputies were called to an address

498
00:31:18,080 --> 00:31:23,520
Speaker 1: off on in Rosy regarding animal cruelty. They found two

499
00:31:23,760 --> 00:31:29,040
Speaker 1: dead dogs, a beautiful German shepherd and an Alaskan husky.

500
00:31:30,760 --> 00:31:34,600
Speaker 1: I slowed down in Alaska husky because my dog is,

501
00:31:35,360 --> 00:31:39,440
Speaker 1: as I've said, a mix. We were told supure breed

502
00:31:39,480 --> 00:31:42,680
Speaker 1: docks and I don't know what fat boy is. I

503
00:31:42,720 --> 00:31:45,680
Speaker 1: think he's part docks and part Doberman. I I'm not

504
00:31:45,720 --> 00:31:48,920
Speaker 1: sure really what he is. But my daughter, when she

505
00:31:49,040 --> 00:31:52,040
Speaker 1: first dreamed of a dog, wanted an Alaska husky, and

506
00:31:52,120 --> 00:31:56,240
Speaker 1: she even has t shirts with huskies on them. Um,

507
00:31:57,080 --> 00:32:00,920
Speaker 1: they're They're so beautiful with the beautiful blue eyes. And

508
00:32:02,640 --> 00:32:06,960
Speaker 1: I've never seen animals quite like a husky. And Um,

509
00:32:07,080 --> 00:32:10,479
Speaker 1: we grew up with our neighbors and relatives having German

510
00:32:10,520 --> 00:32:15,760
Speaker 1: Shepherd dogs that were so loyal and so loving. To

511
00:32:15,960 --> 00:32:21,040
Speaker 1: think of these dogs being hung up and beaten like

512
00:32:21,080 --> 00:32:28,000
Speaker 1: a pinata, I mean, Sheriff Boudreau, Who are these guys?

513
00:32:28,120 --> 00:32:31,920
Speaker 1: Are they? Why would they do this? Well? You know

514
00:32:32,000 --> 00:32:35,440
Speaker 1: that that truly was a difficult question for all of

515
00:32:35,520 --> 00:32:39,160
Speaker 1: us to ask. Um. You know, here in California, we're

516
00:32:39,200 --> 00:32:42,840
Speaker 1: actually not able to ask um, you know, where you're from,

517
00:32:42,840 --> 00:32:45,959
Speaker 1: our immigration status or or any of that nature, So

518
00:32:46,000 --> 00:32:48,520
Speaker 1: we're not even able to dove into that. But they

519
00:32:48,560 --> 00:32:52,200
Speaker 1: did make comments that from where they're from. This is

520
00:32:52,200 --> 00:32:55,120
Speaker 1: how things are done. Whit whit whit. Wait wait wait wait,

521
00:32:55,120 --> 00:32:58,960
Speaker 1: wait wait a minute, now, listen to me. Crime is

522
00:32:59,000 --> 00:33:02,240
Speaker 1: a political Never take a position on crime. I'm not

523
00:33:02,320 --> 00:33:05,440
Speaker 1: a Republican, I'm not a Democrat, and frankly, I don't

524
00:33:05,480 --> 00:33:09,240
Speaker 1: like either party. I think all politicians lie. And I've

525
00:33:09,280 --> 00:33:13,320
Speaker 1: always shied away from anything close to politics because I'd

526
00:33:13,400 --> 00:33:17,320
Speaker 1: rather try a serial killer than deal with politics. That's

527
00:33:17,320 --> 00:33:20,400
Speaker 1: how I feel about it. But I hear what you're saying. See,

528
00:33:20,440 --> 00:33:22,240
Speaker 1: I don't have those restrictions. I can just tell the

529
00:33:22,240 --> 00:33:25,440
Speaker 1: truth is I know it. What I think I'm hearing

530
00:33:25,560 --> 00:33:28,640
Speaker 1: is that these two are illegal immigrants. That is neither

531
00:33:28,760 --> 00:33:34,040
Speaker 1: here nor there. But I wonder if what they're saying is, hey,

532
00:33:34,080 --> 00:33:36,560
Speaker 1: this is okay where we come from. What are they

533
00:33:36,560 --> 00:33:39,360
Speaker 1: trying to say they didn't know this was wrong to

534
00:33:39,600 --> 00:33:44,520
Speaker 1: hang a pet and beat it like a pinata. Seriously,

535
00:33:44,680 --> 00:33:48,960
Speaker 1: that's their defense. Oh, Penny Douglas, fur Okay, you're the

536
00:33:49,000 --> 00:33:52,160
Speaker 1: animal expert lawyer, but you're also a defense attorney. Fat

537
00:33:52,280 --> 00:33:55,000
Speaker 1: chance that working on it with a jury, I didn't

538
00:33:55,000 --> 00:34:01,160
Speaker 1: know it was wrong. You know, we we don't. We

539
00:34:01,200 --> 00:34:02,960
Speaker 1: don't get into that at all either. You know, we

540
00:34:03,000 --> 00:34:05,000
Speaker 1: don't get into the politics of it all. We want

541
00:34:05,040 --> 00:34:08,040
Speaker 1: fair guesses for everyone, no matter where you're from. But

542
00:34:08,160 --> 00:34:11,440
Speaker 1: the point being is back to your original statement, is

543
00:34:11,760 --> 00:34:14,400
Speaker 1: you know, I think that was their defense. They knew

544
00:34:14,400 --> 00:34:17,799
Speaker 1: it was wrong. Um, you know they when one guy

545
00:34:17,880 --> 00:34:21,560
Speaker 1: is hiding behind cars from us that, you know, his defense, Uh,

546
00:34:21,680 --> 00:34:24,239
Speaker 1: does not hold water at all. They knew what they

547
00:34:24,239 --> 00:34:26,880
Speaker 1: were doing was wrong. The entire neighborhood knew what they

548
00:34:26,880 --> 00:34:29,239
Speaker 1: were doing was wrong. And uh, you know, they just

549
00:34:29,280 --> 00:34:32,040
Speaker 1: tried to give a good defense. But that's not gonna

550
00:34:32,080 --> 00:34:34,680
Speaker 1: work now. And this is not about where they're from,

551
00:34:34,800 --> 00:34:38,239
Speaker 1: or who they are or their nationality. You know what,

552
00:34:38,360 --> 00:34:41,600
Speaker 1: Letty Justice is blind and I feel the same way

553
00:34:41,600 --> 00:34:43,600
Speaker 1: as Letty Justice. I don't care who you are or

554
00:34:43,640 --> 00:34:47,200
Speaker 1: where you're from. You do something like this, you're going

555
00:34:47,239 --> 00:34:50,839
Speaker 1: to jail. Now. They're trying to claim that these two

556
00:34:50,920 --> 00:34:55,560
Speaker 1: dogs had attacked some baby pigs. Is that true? I

557
00:34:55,600 --> 00:34:57,919
Speaker 1: don't know. Yeah, that's some of the argument they're trying

558
00:34:57,920 --> 00:35:01,080
Speaker 1: to put out there, but there's no proof of that. Um,

559
00:35:01,120 --> 00:35:03,680
Speaker 1: there's no evidence to support what they're saying. We did

560
00:35:03,760 --> 00:35:07,080
Speaker 1: find some pigs that were that were dead along a

561
00:35:07,160 --> 00:35:12,160
Speaker 1: Canal Bank several hundred yards away from the crime scene. Um.

562
00:35:12,239 --> 00:35:14,399
Speaker 1: But again, I think back to the two points. They're

563
00:35:14,400 --> 00:35:17,960
Speaker 1: trying to develop their defense in this case. And you know,

564
00:35:18,080 --> 00:35:21,640
Speaker 1: if if you saw the pictures, Nancy, they're so gruesome,

565
00:35:21,719 --> 00:35:24,800
Speaker 1: there's nothing that would justify the actions of people. Also,

566
00:35:24,880 --> 00:35:28,400
Speaker 1: we are learning through forensics that they apparently dragged the

567
00:35:28,520 --> 00:35:34,280
Speaker 1: dogs by the ropes before they hung them, then beat

568
00:35:34,360 --> 00:35:40,799
Speaker 1: them dead like they were pinatas. Um. I'm trying to

569
00:35:40,840 --> 00:35:44,160
Speaker 1: get my mind wrapped around this. To Jane Villez Mitchell,

570
00:35:44,520 --> 00:35:48,280
Speaker 1: founder of Jane unchained dot com that champions animals rights

571
00:35:48,360 --> 00:35:53,479
Speaker 1: around the world, Jane weigh in, well, Um, I will

572
00:35:53,560 --> 00:35:58,600
Speaker 1: say that often people become callous. I don't know what

573
00:35:58,640 --> 00:36:01,279
Speaker 1: these men did for a living. It's possible they might

574
00:36:01,280 --> 00:36:04,640
Speaker 1: have worked in the farm industry there, because in farming

575
00:36:05,000 --> 00:36:07,920
Speaker 1: there are routine cruelties that are not even illegal. They

576
00:36:07,960 --> 00:36:11,600
Speaker 1: castraight animals without anesthesia. They cut off their tails. It's

577
00:36:11,600 --> 00:36:14,719
Speaker 1: called tail docking. So there's all sorts of tortures that

578
00:36:14,719 --> 00:36:18,200
Speaker 1: are happening every day to billions of animals right here

579
00:36:18,200 --> 00:36:21,440
Speaker 1: in the United States that are extraordinarily gruesome, and the

580
00:36:21,440 --> 00:36:24,319
Speaker 1: people who work in that industry often become you know,

581
00:36:24,640 --> 00:36:27,879
Speaker 1: callous to it. It's it's sort of the way. It's

582
00:36:27,920 --> 00:36:30,680
Speaker 1: just the way business is done. And that's something we

583
00:36:30,719 --> 00:36:33,960
Speaker 1: all have to wake up to. UM. And so when

584
00:36:34,000 --> 00:36:39,600
Speaker 1: we talk about cultural um attitudes towards animals, Americans are

585
00:36:39,640 --> 00:36:44,200
Speaker 1: decent people, but what happens where they can't see is

586
00:36:44,400 --> 00:36:48,680
Speaker 1: unbelievably horrific. And we only catch these cases because they

587
00:36:48,719 --> 00:36:52,160
Speaker 1: involve dogs and cats. But most animals in America are

588
00:36:52,160 --> 00:36:54,560
Speaker 1: not dogs and cats. There are cows and pigs and

589
00:36:54,640 --> 00:36:57,279
Speaker 1: chickens and turkeys and goats and lambs, and what's done

590
00:36:57,280 --> 00:37:01,040
Speaker 1: to them institutionally is torture. One at a time. Sheriff

591
00:37:01,120 --> 00:37:04,560
Speaker 1: Mike Boudreau says Valencia and Rivera used a rope to

592
00:37:04,600 --> 00:37:07,160
Speaker 1: hang the dogs from a tree and then beat them

593
00:37:07,160 --> 00:37:09,759
Speaker 1: with sticks. At one point, the men noticed one of

594
00:37:09,760 --> 00:37:12,560
Speaker 1: the dogs was still alive. What the sheriff says they

595
00:37:12,600 --> 00:37:15,600
Speaker 1: did next is even more disturbing. It appears that they

596
00:37:15,680 --> 00:37:19,040
Speaker 1: took some type of cutting instrument UH to begin cutting

597
00:37:19,040 --> 00:37:21,440
Speaker 1: the dog's head off. They took some type of cutting

598
00:37:21,480 --> 00:37:26,160
Speaker 1: instrument UH to begin cutting the dog's head off. Um

599
00:37:26,280 --> 00:37:28,360
Speaker 1: shocking to say the least, and the demeanor was not

600
00:37:28,480 --> 00:37:31,120
Speaker 1: as if they felt they should be in trouble. Um,

601
00:37:31,160 --> 00:37:33,800
Speaker 1: they didn't feel as if they had done really anything wrong.

602
00:37:34,680 --> 00:37:36,880
Speaker 1: Was really alarming to the officers on scene. As you

603
00:37:36,880 --> 00:37:39,839
Speaker 1: could imagine right now to to Larry County men are

604
00:37:39,960 --> 00:37:44,320
Speaker 1: charged with animal cruelty, do you think to Sheriff Michael

605
00:37:44,320 --> 00:37:47,920
Speaker 1: Boudreaux joining us, do you think this will actually go

606
00:37:48,000 --> 00:37:50,560
Speaker 1: to trial? And if so and they found guilty, what

607
00:37:50,719 --> 00:37:53,799
Speaker 1: could they possibly phase behind bars? Well, they're looking at

608
00:37:53,840 --> 00:37:57,000
Speaker 1: some serious time. Is difficult, you know, in the court system,

609
00:37:57,040 --> 00:37:58,920
Speaker 1: as you know, there's a lot of plea bargaining that

610
00:37:59,000 --> 00:38:01,799
Speaker 1: takes place, a lot of effort to try to keep

611
00:38:01,800 --> 00:38:04,440
Speaker 1: it going to trial. I think there's so much evidence

612
00:38:05,000 --> 00:38:07,400
Speaker 1: against these two men, I would argue that it likely

613
00:38:07,440 --> 00:38:10,920
Speaker 1: will never go to trial. There's not much defense in

614
00:38:10,960 --> 00:38:13,759
Speaker 1: this and so the plea would probably come in. UM,

615
00:38:13,880 --> 00:38:16,000
Speaker 1: so that makes it difficult to judge. But I know

616
00:38:16,080 --> 00:38:18,040
Speaker 1: that we've had cases in the past where men have

617
00:38:18,160 --> 00:38:21,359
Speaker 1: faced eight and ten twelve years and so in these

618
00:38:21,400 --> 00:38:24,600
Speaker 1: two cases, our district attorney here is really aggressive when

619
00:38:24,600 --> 00:38:28,160
Speaker 1: it comes to cruelty to animals, and um, they're they're

620
00:38:28,200 --> 00:38:31,719
Speaker 1: seeking a very aggressive prosecution in this case and I

621
00:38:31,719 --> 00:38:35,040
Speaker 1: would argue that it would likely be pled. But they're minimally,

622
00:38:35,160 --> 00:38:38,160
Speaker 1: they're they're they're looking at anywhere between eight and ten years.

623
00:38:38,239 --> 00:38:42,840
Speaker 1: Let me ask you this, sheriff, How did your sheriffs react?

624
00:38:43,239 --> 00:38:46,239
Speaker 1: What did they say about the scene, What did they

625
00:38:46,320 --> 00:38:49,000
Speaker 1: find when they got there? Well, when they did get there,

626
00:38:49,000 --> 00:38:52,400
Speaker 1: as I had mentioned before, it appeared to be a

627
00:38:52,560 --> 00:38:57,399
Speaker 1: very serious, uh crime scene, much like a homicide. There

628
00:38:57,520 --> 00:39:02,520
Speaker 1: was blood everywhere, um was evidence. As with the sticks.

629
00:39:02,600 --> 00:39:04,480
Speaker 1: There was blood on the sticks that were using. When

630
00:39:04,480 --> 00:39:07,239
Speaker 1: I say sticks, they weren't tree limbs. These are like

631
00:39:07,440 --> 00:39:11,160
Speaker 1: large boards, um that was used against them. They were

632
00:39:11,200 --> 00:39:15,040
Speaker 1: pruning shears with blood all over them. It was quite

633
00:39:15,120 --> 00:39:18,360
Speaker 1: the massacre. And so to hear them describe it and

634
00:39:18,360 --> 00:39:23,680
Speaker 1: then see it on video, it was man horrific to

635
00:39:23,719 --> 00:39:25,960
Speaker 1: say the least, And and the deputies described it as

636
00:39:26,600 --> 00:39:33,160
Speaker 1: you know, when I was researching these stories, I saw

637
00:39:33,719 --> 00:39:38,760
Speaker 1: photos of animals of dogs with their mouths duct tape

638
00:39:38,840 --> 00:39:43,239
Speaker 1: shut and their feet duct tape together. And when you

639
00:39:43,280 --> 00:39:46,040
Speaker 1: pull up one story like this and research it, it

640
00:39:46,080 --> 00:39:50,799
Speaker 1: pulls up so many more. You know, I just don't

641
00:39:50,880 --> 00:39:56,319
Speaker 1: understand the thinking of someone to you. Claudine Wilkins with

642
00:39:56,760 --> 00:40:03,040
Speaker 1: animal law source dot org. How humans can treat animals

643
00:40:03,080 --> 00:40:07,359
Speaker 1: this way, it's hard to swallow, Nancy Um. It's indicative

644
00:40:07,719 --> 00:40:11,640
Speaker 1: of the behavior and the deprived mind we have. In Georgia,

645
00:40:11,680 --> 00:40:15,479
Speaker 1: for example, our law changed, Our felony law came into

646
00:40:15,520 --> 00:40:18,640
Speaker 1: existence because of a dog named Honey, and the dog

647
00:40:18,760 --> 00:40:22,680
Speaker 1: was burned over of his body on purpose for fun.

648
00:40:23,400 --> 00:40:26,040
Speaker 1: And three years later, the same young man that did

649
00:40:26,080 --> 00:40:28,920
Speaker 1: that to this dog committed murder. So there is a

650
00:40:29,000 --> 00:40:32,440
Speaker 1: direct correlation to this. And you said something earlier about

651
00:40:33,200 --> 00:40:36,399
Speaker 1: a man abusing a dog in a sexual act. What

652
00:40:36,480 --> 00:40:39,799
Speaker 1: people don't know is human trafficking and child porn is

653
00:40:39,800 --> 00:40:43,640
Speaker 1: a very serious issue we're all dealing with. And I'm

654
00:40:43,680 --> 00:40:48,719
Speaker 1: astounded that the folks in law enforcement don't give enough

655
00:40:48,920 --> 00:40:53,480
Speaker 1: attention to this particular crime because it's completely correlated to

656
00:40:53,880 --> 00:40:57,600
Speaker 1: abusing children. I mean, I can tell you this. We

657
00:40:57,640 --> 00:41:00,000
Speaker 1: had a gentleman who spoke at one of my symposiums

658
00:41:01,440 --> 00:41:06,800
Speaker 1: of the cases he investigated on crimes against animals involving

659
00:41:06,800 --> 00:41:11,200
Speaker 1: sexual acts. Of the cases he investigated lead to a

660
00:41:11,360 --> 00:41:14,600
Speaker 1: child porn ring because of the videotaping and the selling

661
00:41:14,600 --> 00:41:18,839
Speaker 1: of those videotapes. There's a serious depravity going on here,

662
00:41:19,280 --> 00:41:21,040
Speaker 1: and we all know that if we took our own

663
00:41:21,080 --> 00:41:25,400
Speaker 1: pet and stuck his paw on the oven. We know

664
00:41:25,760 --> 00:41:28,920
Speaker 1: the animals feel pain. We know that they can't speak.

665
00:41:29,120 --> 00:41:31,520
Speaker 1: We know that they look to us to protect them,

666
00:41:31,560 --> 00:41:35,120
Speaker 1: and we have to protect them with me is Claudine Wilkins,

667
00:41:35,680 --> 00:41:40,239
Speaker 1: our friend Jane Villeas Mitchell, Penny Douglas Fur, and our

668
00:41:40,320 --> 00:41:45,080
Speaker 1: special guest, Sheriff Michael Boudreau. I can't thank you enough.

669
00:41:45,560 --> 00:41:48,800
Speaker 1: As we go to air right now, we are learning

670
00:41:48,920 --> 00:41:52,240
Speaker 1: there is a verdict in the case of the pscythe

671
00:41:52,280 --> 00:41:56,960
Speaker 1: county dog groom or charged in multiple counts of killing

672
00:41:57,560 --> 00:42:03,280
Speaker 1: dogs she was grooming. A verdict has been handed down.

673
00:42:03,920 --> 00:42:09,560
Speaker 1: The dog groomer has been found guilty. Guilty and joining

674
00:42:09,600 --> 00:42:15,800
Speaker 1: me right now animal activist Penny Douglas Fur and Eric Francis. Eric,

675
00:42:16,160 --> 00:42:19,040
Speaker 1: what is your reaction to the fact that she has

676
00:42:19,080 --> 00:42:22,960
Speaker 1: been found guilty on one of the counts. Great, I

677
00:42:23,040 --> 00:42:26,200
Speaker 1: can't express my feelings enough to let you know that

678
00:42:26,280 --> 00:42:30,360
Speaker 1: the truth did prevail and the jury did hear the

679
00:42:30,400 --> 00:42:34,040
Speaker 1: truth from the witnesses. As we go to air, victim

680
00:42:34,080 --> 00:42:37,600
Speaker 1: impact statements are being introduced into court. This verdict has

681
00:42:37,760 --> 00:42:43,880
Speaker 1: just happened. We are talking about Michelle Louise Root, who,

682
00:42:44,520 --> 00:42:50,040
Speaker 1: according to this jury, has attacked, mistreated, killed pets under

683
00:42:50,080 --> 00:42:54,680
Speaker 1: the guise of grooming them. To Penny Douglas, fur attorney

684
00:42:54,800 --> 00:42:58,319
Speaker 1: and animal activists joining us out of Atlanta. Penny, what

685
00:42:58,480 --> 00:43:01,960
Speaker 1: happened in court? Well, Nancy, the jury came back with

686
00:43:02,120 --> 00:43:05,600
Speaker 1: a guilty on Miko and not guilty on Little Boy.

687
00:43:05,800 --> 00:43:09,399
Speaker 1: And I believe that the reason for that is that

688
00:43:09,520 --> 00:43:13,719
Speaker 1: Little Boy was not reported for almost a year, And

689
00:43:13,760 --> 00:43:16,920
Speaker 1: I think that tells people that if you believe that

690
00:43:17,000 --> 00:43:20,960
Speaker 1: your dog has been abused, you need to report it immediately,

691
00:43:21,600 --> 00:43:26,279
Speaker 1: do not wait because the evidence goes away. As we know,

692
00:43:26,480 --> 00:43:32,719
Speaker 1: Miko's death was reported immediately, but Little Boys didn't come

693
00:43:32,719 --> 00:43:36,480
Speaker 1: out until a year later. So I just want to

694
00:43:36,600 --> 00:43:39,839
Speaker 1: encourage people to make sure and come forward if they

695
00:43:39,880 --> 00:43:43,839
Speaker 1: believe their animals are being abused. To Eric Francis, Eric,

696
00:43:44,239 --> 00:43:47,600
Speaker 1: tell me about Miko, and you can find out all

697
00:43:47,640 --> 00:43:51,520
Speaker 1: about this story at crime online dot com and you

698
00:43:51,560 --> 00:43:54,920
Speaker 1: can see pictures of Miko and Little Boy also at

699
00:43:55,040 --> 00:43:58,800
Speaker 1: Justice for Miko dot com and that's justice the number

700
00:43:58,880 --> 00:44:04,320
Speaker 1: four Miko dot com. Tell me about Miko, Eric Francis,

701
00:44:04,520 --> 00:44:08,759
Speaker 1: and what is your understanding of what Michelle Louise Root

702
00:44:08,960 --> 00:44:13,160
Speaker 1: did to that sweet little dog. Miko was a great dog.

703
00:44:13,280 --> 00:44:15,920
Speaker 1: Let me start off there. You know, when you find

704
00:44:16,000 --> 00:44:19,640
Speaker 1: an animal that you really connect with, it's almost like

705
00:44:19,640 --> 00:44:22,080
Speaker 1: they're a part of your heart. They become a part

706
00:44:22,120 --> 00:44:25,040
Speaker 1: of your family. They become the children that you never had,

707
00:44:25,120 --> 00:44:28,279
Speaker 1: or the child that you see every day. The best

708
00:44:28,280 --> 00:44:30,960
Speaker 1: thing is they don't usually talk back like a teenager.

709
00:44:31,760 --> 00:44:37,120
Speaker 1: But what I found when we discovered the dog was deceased,

710
00:44:37,480 --> 00:44:41,880
Speaker 1: and then we heard just a few minutes later that Lisa,

711
00:44:42,080 --> 00:44:45,200
Speaker 1: one of the dog washers, had gone to the local

712
00:44:45,200 --> 00:44:49,840
Speaker 1: police department and was giving a statement that what Michelle

713
00:44:49,880 --> 00:44:53,600
Speaker 1: had done was the dog had apparently jumped off the

714
00:44:53,640 --> 00:44:57,919
Speaker 1: grooming table and ran to the back and was completely petrified.

715
00:44:58,560 --> 00:45:01,960
Speaker 1: She then went to back and proceeded to stomp on

716
00:45:02,040 --> 00:45:04,880
Speaker 1: his head, choke him, dragged him around the back of

717
00:45:04,920 --> 00:45:08,839
Speaker 1: the shop, banged his head against the wall, uh, and

718
00:45:08,880 --> 00:45:11,719
Speaker 1: then literally put him up on the table and put

719
00:45:11,800 --> 00:45:14,600
Speaker 1: the leads so tight that it actually choked him to death.

720
00:45:15,360 --> 00:45:20,319
Speaker 1: And the necropsy report mirrored exactly what we had in

721
00:45:20,320 --> 00:45:22,680
Speaker 1: the witness statement, and I think that's what the jury

722
00:45:22,760 --> 00:45:25,800
Speaker 1: heard and that's why they came down with a guilty verdict.

723
00:45:26,080 --> 00:45:29,560
Speaker 1: You know, I call it a medical exander's statement. The

724
00:45:29,560 --> 00:45:34,560
Speaker 1: the autopsy of the dog, Miko found not only had

725
00:45:34,600 --> 00:45:40,200
Speaker 1: he been strangled severely, he had horrible bruises on his legs,

726
00:45:40,800 --> 00:45:45,880
Speaker 1: his abdomen, his head, his shoulder and neck. There was

727
00:45:46,000 --> 00:45:51,280
Speaker 1: damage to his brain and his lungs and other body parts.

728
00:45:51,280 --> 00:45:55,640
Speaker 1: Are this little this little dog is so precious, these

729
00:45:55,680 --> 00:45:59,840
Speaker 1: big brown eyes looking up at you. It's it's horrible.

730
00:46:00,000 --> 00:46:04,640
Speaker 1: They're all detailed in the report where U g A

731
00:46:05,840 --> 00:46:12,000
Speaker 1: did an autopsy on the dog, everything in them. Michelle

732
00:46:12,000 --> 00:46:15,960
Speaker 1: Louise Root took the stand Penny Douglas, and I don't

733
00:46:16,000 --> 00:46:19,439
Speaker 1: think that helped her at all. Well, Natthy, what blew

734
00:46:19,560 --> 00:46:24,120
Speaker 1: me away was the evidence that the doctor gave that

735
00:46:24,200 --> 00:46:27,960
Speaker 1: this dog had to have hung off the table between

736
00:46:28,120 --> 00:46:32,680
Speaker 1: five and twelve minutes. How could a dog in your

737
00:46:32,760 --> 00:46:37,640
Speaker 1: business hang by his neck off the table for five

738
00:46:37,719 --> 00:46:41,960
Speaker 1: to twelve minutes and nobody rushes over to get him

739
00:46:41,960 --> 00:46:45,200
Speaker 1: back up on the table. How did that happen? You know?

740
00:46:45,400 --> 00:46:50,279
Speaker 1: And in court we learned that the testimony on the

741
00:46:50,320 --> 00:46:54,680
Speaker 1: stand in front of this jury became very tearful, people

742
00:46:54,760 --> 00:46:59,839
Speaker 1: actually breaking down and crying as they described what hack

743
00:47:00,080 --> 00:47:04,440
Speaker 1: happened to little Miko, and former employees of this forsythe

744
00:47:04,440 --> 00:47:09,360
Speaker 1: County Petsilon claim they looked on as the shop's owner

745
00:47:09,680 --> 00:47:15,800
Speaker 1: kicked and choked Miko the dog until Miko was dead.

746
00:47:16,400 --> 00:47:20,320
Speaker 1: Alan that's the latest from that forsythe county courtroom. Nancy

747
00:47:20,440 --> 00:47:23,560
Speaker 1: getting this now from the courtroom. The judge announcing the

748
00:47:23,640 --> 00:47:27,840
Speaker 1: sentence for this dog groomer for killing Miko. Five years

749
00:47:28,040 --> 00:47:31,239
Speaker 1: in prison, three of them to serve two years on

750
00:47:31,320 --> 00:47:35,719
Speaker 1: probation after that of community service, and this groomer can

751
00:47:35,760 --> 00:47:40,759
Speaker 1: no longer ever own, groom or deal with any animals.

752
00:47:41,239 --> 00:47:45,239
Speaker 1: It seems to me that Lady justice prevailed. Nancy Grace

753
00:47:45,320 --> 00:47:48,000
Speaker 1: crime story signing off, goodbye friend,