Live puppy to be used in torture trial
Atlanta brothers accused of killing dog in oven

By D.L. BENNETT
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Published on: 12/11/06

The jury in an animal cruelty case will witness Tuesday afternoon a demonstration using a live puppy to show how another dog suffered before it was stuffed into a searing hot gas oven and killed.

Two brothers, Justin and Joshua Moulder, are on trial in Fulton Superior Court for animal cruetly as well as breaking into and trashing the community center of Englewood Manor apartments in Atlanta.

In addition to the demonstration, the prosecution will call Tuesday an expert witness to explain why the five children who say they witnessed the damage to the center and the dog's body in the oven all have major discrepancies in their stories.

Laura Janssen, the prosecutor, argued Monday that a live demonstration would show how a real dog would react. She said her expert on dog behavior would stop short of any real cruelty.

"It helps the jury to understand," Janssen said.

The puppy pulled from the Fulton animal shelter on Tuesday would be a stand-in for one that was doused with paint, burned, hog-tied with duct tape and then died futility struggling inside a gas oven.

Judge Thelma Wyatt Cummings Moore agreed Monday to allow the dog demonstration over the objections of defense lawyers who argued that trotting out a cute puppy would prejudice the jury.

"This is clearly just an attempt to inflame the jury," said Kevin Schumaker, the lawyer for Joshua Moulder.

Testimony resumed Monday with a series of police witnesses who kicked off the second week of the trial.

The early session witnesses included an Atlanta police supervisor, a crime scene technician and a police sergeant who were all called to the apartments Aug. 21.

They all said they found the apartment community center trashed -- computers smashed, books strewn about, paint splattered around and other vandalism -- as well as a small puppy that had been duct-taped and gruesomely killed inside the center's gas oven.

Sgt. Bryan Paden didn't need to refer to any notes to tell jurors what he saw.

"I remember distinctly the puppy had paint on it," Paden said. "I also remember distinctly liquid dripping from it."

Two apartment complex employees testified Monday they saw the two brothers walking in Englewood Manor the day of the incident along with a dog.

Also, the resident association president -- one of the first people on the scene after the incident -- told the jury she was shocked and horrified when she opened the oven door to find the puppy's burned body inside.

"I screamed," said Inez Marshall. "The kids had said it, but I didn't expect to see a real dog in the oven."

[This message was edited by Shannon Edmonds on 12-13-06 at .]

...How exactly are they going to demonstrate what a real puppy would have gone through being tortured and burned alive inside an oven without actually harming the stand-in puppy? I'm having a hard time figuring that one out. It's not like you can have a puppy act out a scene!

That dog had mad skillz, yo.

Lassie: Aarrff!

Timmy: What is it Lassie? Someone put a puppy in an oven?

Lassie: Aarff...rufff...arff

Timmy: Holy, moley! Are you serious? Two juveniles, one in blue jeans and a striped polo and one wearing khakis with a long-sleeve button-down with a hole in the pocket, came over there?

Lassie: Rrrruff!

Timmy: Wow! Can you do those movements in court for the D.A.?

I seem to recall a tall tell about a question on the bar exam that included a dog, tesitmony and hearsay...hmmmm

Yes, and now you get more points if you discuss whether the dog's out-of-court barking is testimonial under Crawford.

what ever happened to that cat being held for ransom on the internet? Maybe they could pay the ransom and use him in the demonstration. Surely the cat already has PTSD from his ordeal and probably will have attachment disorder and/or stockholm syndrome after released.

BEIJING � The long arms of the world's tallest man reached in and saved two dolphins by pulling out plastic from their stomachs, state media and an aquarium official said Thursday.

The dolphins got sick after nibbling on plastic from the edge of their pool at an aquarium in Liaoning province. Attempts to use surgical instruments to remove the plastic failed because the dolphins' stomachs contracted in response to the instruments, the China Daily newspaper reported.


(enlarge photo)
In this photo released by China's Xinhua News Agency, Bao Xishun, center, the tallest living man in the world according to the 2005 edition of the Guinness Book of Records, observes dolphins in an oceanarium and amusement park in Fushun of northeast China's Liaoning province Wednesday, Dec 13, 2006. Bao, 2.36 meters (7.7 feet) tall, with the advantage of his long arms, was invited to perform an alternative procedure on the dolphins after conventional treatments had failed. The medical workers and trainers at the park decided to take a chance with an alternative cure for two dolphins who they say suffer from an upset appetite and emotional depression due to unknown heavy objects in their stomachs. (AP Photo/Xinhua Photo, Ren Yong)
Veterinarians then decided to ask for help from Bao Xishun, a 7-foot-9 herdsman from Inner Mongolia with 41.7-inch arms, state media said.

Bao, 54, was confirmed last year by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's tallest living man.

Chen Lujun, the manager of the Royal Jidi Ocean World aquarium, told The Associated Press that the shape of the dolphins' stomachs made it difficult to push an instrument very far in without hurting the animals. People with shorter arms could not reach the plastic, he said.

"When we failed to get the objects out we sought the help of Bao Xishun from Inner Mongolia and he did it successfully yesterday," Chen said. "The two dolphins are in very good condition now."

Photographs showed the jaws of one of the dolphins being held back by towels so Bao could reach inside the animal without being bitten.

"Some very small plastic pieces are still left in the dolphins' stomachs," Zhu Xiaoling, a local doctor, told Xinhua. "However the dolphins will be able to digest these and are expected to recover soon."