PETA urges accused animal abuse to undergo counseling

A report of alleged domestic abuse that occurred Sept. 13 caught the attention of the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals.

Wednesday morning the Norfolk, Va.-based PETA faxed a letter to Cape Girardeau County Prosecuting Attorney Morley Swingle urging him to vigorously prosecute Paul Clifton Oakley, 43, of Cape Girardeau.

Oakley was charged Sept. 16 with three felony counts of domestic assault and one misdemeanor charge of animal abuse. He was arrested after a passerby at the Themis Street residence Oakley shared with his 18-year-old live-in girlfriend called police to report seeing Oakley assaulting the woman. Further investigation revealed that Oakley also allegedly kept the woman under tight control and had thrown her kitten to the ground and threatened to kill the pet.

"Oakley's alleged actions illustrate the correlation between cruelty to animals and other forms of violence," wrote Daniel Paden, a cruelty caseworker with PETA.

Paden went on to write, "... the connection between crimes against animals and domestic violence is indisputable."

PETA asked Swingle to ensure that after Oakley is sentenced, he would be required to undergo a thorough psychological evaluation followed by mandatory counseling and anger-management classes at his own expense.

In his response to PETA, Swingle wrote that he will pass its letter of concern to the judge once Oakley has reached the sentencing stage. PETA noted that Oakley is scheduled to appear in court Friday, but Swingle said that is only a preliminary hearing to show probable cause on the felony counts.

Case just begun

"We are still a long way off from any trial or guilty plea and do not even know yet where the case will be tried nor who the judge will be," he wrote, "not to mention the inconvenient fact that he is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty."

Swingle said Wednesday afternoon that he is more concerned about prosecuting the felony charges against Oakley, and that it is premature to speculate whether or not the misdemeanor animal abuse charge could be dropped in a plea negotiation.

"We are going for a prison sentence on the felonies," he said. "Really it's going to be moot what happens to the misdemeanor. The cat tossing count pales in comparison to the first count."

The first count against Oakley states that Oakley punched his victim in the abdomen knowing she had recently suffered a lacerated liver.

As for PETA's assertion that a correlation exists between cruelty to animals and other forms of violence, Swingle said, "I think a mean person is a mean person."

Swingle said that Oakley's victim is recovering from her trauma, and that she still has the kitten which he said "appears to be OK. We don't know how many of its nine lives it has left."

PETA says it is the world's largest animal rights organization with more than 800,000 members and supporters dedicated to animal protection. PETA also advises that it is sending its brand-new anti-violence public service announcement, hosted by actor Dennis Franz, to TV stations serving the Cape Girardeau area.

lredeffer@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 160