“ | SPECIAL REPORT: Judge Reminds PETA That Dognapping Is A Felony
Yesterday, the latest People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) employee to run afoul of the law made her get-out-of-jail-free arguments before a Virginia judge. It didn’t go too well. At the end of a 90-minute “probable cause” hearing in the aptly named town of Courtland, Virginia, PETA worker Andrea Florence Benoit stood charged with the October 2006 felony theft of a hunting dog.
And we learned a great deal more about this disturbing case, and just
how far PETA will go to substitute its judgment for everyone else’s.
*SNIP*
The next step for Andrea Benoit will likely be a Grand Jury indictment, followed by a trial in Southampton County Circuit Court. The “Class 5” felony of grand larceny (click here to see the charging document) could bring Benoit a prison term of between 1 and 10 years. And, of course, a perpetual black eye for PETA. The animal-rights group’s legal godfather, attorney Phil Hirschkop, was in the courtroom yesterday keeping a watchful eye on things (as he was this winter during PETA’s highly embarrassing animal-cruelty trial). From the looks of the evidence, he has his work cut out for him.
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