Woman sentenced to three days-with only bread and water

Chardok · Post by **Chardok** » 2004-06-09 08:12am

HOUSTON -- A woman convicted of starving her two horses was sentenced to 30 days in jail -- the first three days on bread and water.

``She's going to get more than her horses got,'' Judge Mike Peters said Monday.

He also ordered that enlarged photos of the famished horses be posted on the wall of Melissa Dawn Sweeney's cell as a reminder of what she did.

Sweeney, 28, a former stable worker, was convicted Friday. Prosecutors said she left the horses outside her mobile home without food or shelter for more than four months because she was too lazy to care for them.

One horse was later destroyed; the other was adopted.

Sweeney blamed the animals' poor condition on their advanced age.

Better than she deserves, IMHO. This article isn't as complete as the report I got on NPR this morning, but, as the saying goes, "That'll do, pig."

SecondStorm · Post by **SecondStorm** » 2004-06-09 08:25am

Wow what an unusual punishment.

Only in America eh ?

Gil Hamilton · Post by **Gil Hamilton** » 2004-06-09 09:14am

Ah, Texas Justice... spicy.

Admiral Valdemar · Post by **Admiral Valdemar** » 2004-06-09 09:16am

Be better if it was the first 30 days instead...

Trytostaydead · Post by **Trytostaydead** » 2004-06-09 09:17am

I bet you she's going to claim cruel and unusual or something..

Col. Crackpot · Post by **Col. Crackpot** » 2004-06-09 09:17am

what sucks is, because of her being on the Atkins diet, she'll end up gaining weight.

General Zod · Post by **General Zod** » 2004-06-09 11:02am

if this were anywhere but Texas i might be surprised by the sentence. . .but, well, it's Texas.

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-06-09 11:04am

One of the horses was "destroyed"? What'd they do? Strap some demolitions to it?

Dorsk 81 · Post by **Dorsk 81** » 2004-06-09 11:09am

Durandal wrote:One of the horses was "destroyed"? What'd they do? Strap some demolitions to it?

"Destroyed" is the polite way of saying they shot it in the head and then burned it.

Tsyroc · Post by **Tsyroc** » 2004-06-09 11:31am

It's interesting and kind of refreshing that she got a pretty decent punishment for abusing animals.

Incidently, 3 days bread & water is still an punishment option in the USN. From what I recall it's only available as an option while underway and 3 days is the max. Plus the person can have all the bread and water they want.

The Kernel · Post by **The Kernel** » 2004-06-09 11:38am

Gil Hamilton wrote:Ah, Texas Justice... spicy.

FUQ!

Durandal · Post by **Durandal** » 2004-06-09 12:00pm

Dorsk 81 wrote:
Durandal wrote:One of the horses was "destroyed"? What'd they do? Strap some demolitions to it?
"Destroyed" is the polite way of saying they shot it in the head and then burned it.

I just get the image of the Family Guy episode where Meg races the Amish buggy, and the horse ends up exploding after tumbling down a cliff.