Results: Ohio Judge Gives Animal Abusers a Taste of their Own Medicine

Municipal Court Judge Michael Cicconeti was tired of animal abusers having little to no punishment. Since sentences are made to encourage and enforce lawful behavior, he gives out unusual sentences to teach abusers valuable lessons they will never forget. Are you glad to hear there is a judge who cares for animals and wants to protect them as best he can?

Judge Cicconeti's advocacy for animal rights is rooted from his love for animals. He fell in love with animals when he got his first dog, a Dachshund mix named Herman. From there, his love for animals grew. Now, he has a ten year old Bernese mountain dog named Kasey. If you feel especially concerned for animals, is it because of your past experience with a pet(s)?

As an upstanding member of the legal profession, judge Cicconeti doesn't give out dangerous or unlawful punishments. But he isn't beyond giving offenders a little discomfort and embarrassment either. Do you appreciate judges who give unique sentences, beyond the usual jail time?

Take this one case where one woman abandoned 35 kittens in the woods. To help the offender realize the gravity of her actions, the judge sentenced her to spend a night in the woods by herself. During the hearing, he told her "How would you like to be dumped off at a metro park late at night, spend the night listening to the coyotes … listening to the raccoons around you in the dark night, and sit out there in the cold not knowing where you're going to get your next meal, not knowing when you are going to be rescued?" Do you think this sentence was fair?

In another case, a woman was found guilty after her dog was found living in total filth. Judge Cicconeti let her have a taste of her own medicine, sentencing her to spend a day at a filthy, smelly local dump. The judge said at the hearing, "I want you to go down to the county dump, to the landfill, and I want them to find the stinkiest, smelliest, God-awful odor place they can find in that dump and I want you to sit there for eight hours tomorrow, to think about what you did to that dog while you smell the odor. If you puke, you puke." Do you think it was cruel for Judge Cicconeti to put the woman in the smelliest place he could - to try to teach her a lesson about how cruel she was being to her dog?

I know there are a lot of animal advocates on Tellwut. If you are one of them, do you wish there were more judges like Michael Cicconeti that tries to teach animal abusers a lesson through the unique sentences he hands out?

This animal loving judge never planned on making these unusual sentences. He just started creating them when he noticed that jail time wasn't effective in making abusers realize the gravity of their crimes. So he decided to take on an unconventional method of making these offenders turn from their ways. The judge always makes sure that the sentences he gives out are fit for the crimes that were committed. He waits until all the details of the case are heard before he carefully doles out sentences. Do you think it makes sense to give animal abusers more unique sentences so they can think about how the animal might have felt while they're suffering through the same conditions?