On April 6, 2004, Gizmo, a frail 17-year-old two-pound Yorkie, was brutally kicked to death. Of the three men involved, thus far only the kicker, Chad Daniel Crawford, has been charged, and not to the fullest extent of the law!
Attention:
Victor S. (Torry) Johnson III
District Attorney General
Nashville, Tennessee
Dear Mr. Johnson,
On April 6, 2004, Gizmo, a frail 17-year-old two-pound Yorkie, was brutally kicked to death as his owner watched in horror. At first Gizmo's owner, Jelani Lewis, believed the three men were leaning over to pet his friendly little dog. What happened next is unspeakable. One of the men, Chad Daniel Crawford (who is 5 feet, nine inches tall and weighs 175 pounds) kicked Gizmo like a football as one of his companions held Gizmo in place. Gizmo flew threw the air, landing more than 30 feet away, and rolled under a parked car. He was dead upon impact, blood staining the pavement where he crashed with such brutal force.
Thus far, only Chad Daniel Crawford, the kicker, has been charged. Although the newly created state law for aggravated animal cruelty is in place, Crawford is charged with only cruelty to animals and felony vandalism (because Gizmo's papers indicate he was worth about $1500). We implore you to upgrade the charges against Crawford to aggravated animal cruelty and to charge his accomplices with same. These three men deserve not only the maximum punishment allowed by state law but also the court ordered psychological counseling that is possible under the more serious conviction.
Intentional animal cruelty is of course horrific and shocking in and of itself but it is also a clearly proven indicator and early warning sign that the perpetrators are predisposed to other crimes (such as vandalism, arson, domestic violence and even murder). These three men are clearly on the path to committing crimes against humans, if they have not done so already! Their actions very distinctly fit into the types of profiles used by the FBI when outlining correlations between animal cruelty and human violence, especially in serial killers.
We urge you Mr. Johnson to value the life of this tiny unfortunate Yorkie by prosecuting all three of his killers to the fullest extent of the law. In doing so you will be valuing the life of not only this dog, Gizmo, but also the lives of numerous potential human victims.
Sincerely, The Undersigned,
