Wednesday, December 15, 2010

Please Help Jean Cyhanick

The whole story is at http://got50.blogspot.com/

Jean is appealing her conviction and we are helping. The information at the Got50 site may be a day or two old, but as of today, Wednesday the 15th of December 2010, pledges total about $28,000 out of $35,000 needed, so we're getting close. Walter Hutchens is taking pledges at waltah @ earthlink.net (remove spaces). Current instructions are to send no money, but promise to send what you feel you can and you want to. I'm sending $25 when they are ready.

In this case the jury was not told that by convicting Jean Cyhanick they would deprive her of her livelihood. That's deception right there. I think that the whole point of prosecuting her was to deprive her of her livelihood.

Jean Cyhanick was convicted of animal cruelty because she had dogs that had dental issues that her veterinarian had told her did not warrant immediate attention. This was after she had done a lot to avoid being a "commercial breeder" under the laws of the State of Virginia, and giving up as many dogs as she did, she sacrificed a lot of her yearly income. She had been inspected yearly by animal control officers and no one found anything to complain about until a person by the name of Amy Hammer who wore the uniform of an ACO started strongarming her, first telling Jean that if she didn't give Hammer three of her dogs, she was going to fine her $250 a day.

There is a lot in the story that will set your hair on fire. The jury was actually embarrassed to have convicted Jean, and well they should be. Even if we are talking about the law, there has always been some kind of doctrine that the law, if it is used against a person at all, should be used with common sense and compassion. I've read of cases where far more compassion was given to a murderer than to this lady who was taking very good care of her animals and helping the species by giving it a home to breed in.