Teh One Who Knocks
11-03-2015, 01:31 PM
By Jane Harper - The Virginian-Pilot
http://i.imgur.com/0jxfeEr.jpg
VIRGINIA BEACH - A 27-year-old man who admitted to tying his dog's legs together, muzzling her snout and setting her on fire while she was alive pleaded guilty Monday in Circuit Court.
Arthur M. Vieira pleaded guilty to torturing a companion animal, obstruction of justice and littering. The obstruction charge stems from false statements he made to police before confessing.
Vieira could get up to seven years in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 13. He will remain in jail without bond until then.
"I intend to ask for the maximum," prosecutor David Laird said.
Defense attorney Moody "Sonny" Stallings Jr. said the incident was out of character for his client. Vieira was working as a gunner's mate in the Navy when he was arrested but was discharged as a result of the case, Stallings said. He has no prior convictions.
"We really don't have a good explanation for what happened," the defense lawyer said. "There is nothing in his background to explain this."
Vieira has been seeing a private therapist in jail, and there may be evidence of a "psychiatric condition," Stallings said.
A woman who identified herself as Vieira's mother but declined to give her name also was at a loss.
"I can't even believe it," she said. "He loves animals." The family always had dogs when Vieira was growing up, and he was good with them, she said.
According to a stipulation of facts, firefighters found the charred remains of a dog when they responded to a fire in the 1200 block of Virginia Beach Blvd. on May 29. The dog's feet were tied together with nylon rope, and she had a muzzle on her snout. Investigators also found a can of lighter fluid nearby.
A necropsy determined that the dog was alive when she was set on fire. The dog also had a microchip, which investigators used to trace to a woman who had adopted him from the Peninsula SPCA.
The woman told police she gave the dog, which she had named "Sheeba," away because she could not afford to keep her. She gave the dog to Vieira after posting an ad on Craiglist.
When police questioned Vieira, he said initially that he gave the dog away on Craigslist. He then changed his story and said the dog whom he had renamed "Lucky" had run away. When told that his fingerprints had been found on a container of lighter fluid at the scene, Vieira confessed, police said.
Vieira told police Lucky had attacked him, and he hit her because he was scared. He said he thought she was dead when he burned her.
Several members of PETA and a representative of Norfolk SPCA stood outside the courthouse Monday holding signs that read "Justice for Lucky."
"So often, people get a slap on the wrist, and that's part of why we're here today - to make sure they take the crime of animal cruelty seriously," said Rachel Bellis, community liaison for PETA.
http://i.imgur.com/0jxfeEr.jpg
VIRGINIA BEACH - A 27-year-old man who admitted to tying his dog's legs together, muzzling her snout and setting her on fire while she was alive pleaded guilty Monday in Circuit Court.
Arthur M. Vieira pleaded guilty to torturing a companion animal, obstruction of justice and littering. The obstruction charge stems from false statements he made to police before confessing.
Vieira could get up to seven years in prison when he is sentenced Jan. 13. He will remain in jail without bond until then.
"I intend to ask for the maximum," prosecutor David Laird said.
Defense attorney Moody "Sonny" Stallings Jr. said the incident was out of character for his client. Vieira was working as a gunner's mate in the Navy when he was arrested but was discharged as a result of the case, Stallings said. He has no prior convictions.
"We really don't have a good explanation for what happened," the defense lawyer said. "There is nothing in his background to explain this."
Vieira has been seeing a private therapist in jail, and there may be evidence of a "psychiatric condition," Stallings said.
A woman who identified herself as Vieira's mother but declined to give her name also was at a loss.
"I can't even believe it," she said. "He loves animals." The family always had dogs when Vieira was growing up, and he was good with them, she said.
According to a stipulation of facts, firefighters found the charred remains of a dog when they responded to a fire in the 1200 block of Virginia Beach Blvd. on May 29. The dog's feet were tied together with nylon rope, and she had a muzzle on her snout. Investigators also found a can of lighter fluid nearby.
A necropsy determined that the dog was alive when she was set on fire. The dog also had a microchip, which investigators used to trace to a woman who had adopted him from the Peninsula SPCA.
The woman told police she gave the dog, which she had named "Sheeba," away because she could not afford to keep her. She gave the dog to Vieira after posting an ad on Craiglist.
When police questioned Vieira, he said initially that he gave the dog away on Craigslist. He then changed his story and said the dog whom he had renamed "Lucky" had run away. When told that his fingerprints had been found on a container of lighter fluid at the scene, Vieira confessed, police said.
Vieira told police Lucky had attacked him, and he hit her because he was scared. He said he thought she was dead when he burned her.
Several members of PETA and a representative of Norfolk SPCA stood outside the courthouse Monday holding signs that read "Justice for Lucky."
"So often, people get a slap on the wrist, and that's part of why we're here today - to make sure they take the crime of animal cruelty seriously," said Rachel Bellis, community liaison for PETA.