Judge says actions were ‘cruel’ and
‘disgusting’; disregards sentencing guidelines
by Daniel Leaderman
A former Baltimore City police officer who
killed the puppy he and his girlfriend shared was sentenced to a year in jail
Wednesday for what the judge said was a “cruel” and “callous” act.
Alec Eugene Taylor, 28, pleaded guilty in
August to a charge of aggravated animal cruelty. Authorities said he choked and
beat the 7-month-old Jack Russell Terrier after the dog defecated on the rug in
their Silver Spring apartment Feb. 26. Taylor then texted a picture of the dog
— called Rocko — to his girlfriend and wrote to her that he was going to throw
the dog out.
Sentencing guidelines called for Taylor to
receive up to three months in jail for the crime, which is a felony, but
Montgomery County Circuit Court Judge Richard E. Jordan said that wasn’t good
enough. The guidelines weren’t very helpful because animal cruelty cases aren’t
prosecuted often, and didn’t take into account the emotional injury to Taylor’s
now ex-girlfriend, Deborah Avila, and her son, who was 6 years old at the time,
and to the public trust, Jordan said.
Law enforcement officers such as Taylor need
to be held to a higher standard, Jordan said. “It was absolutely disgusting
what you did,” he said.
Jordan sentenced Taylor to three years’
incarceration — suspending two of them — followed by five years’ probation. In
addition, Taylor can’t own or live with a dog or any other animal and can have
no contact with his ex-girlfriend or her son.
Taylor told police that he had used a mop to
force Rocko out from behind a dryer, where he had been hiding, then choked the
dog for about two minutes until it died. A necropsy found that the dog died of
acute hemorrhagic shock likely due to blood loss from liver damage caused by
blunt force trauma, according to charging documents.
Just before his sentence was imposed, Taylor
told the court he was “apologetic” for what he’d done and he was ready to take
responsibility for his actions.
Avila briefly addressed the court, tearfully
describing Rocko not just as a dog, but as a member of the family. Taylor had
no right to do what he did to the puppy, she said.
Taylor’s attorney, Warren Brown, said after
the hearing that the dog’s death was an “incongruent act” and Taylor had no
history of brutality or law-breaking. “We all have, unfortunately, a little
dark side in us, and sometimes it comes out,” he said.
Brown said he had no plans to challenge the
sentence, which he did not consider excessive, but in a few years, he likely
would request that the period of Taylor’s probation be shortened.
The felony conviction will prevent Taylor,
who resigned from the Baltimore City Police Department in August, from serving
as a police officer again, Brown said.
Montgomery County State’s Attorney John
McCarthy called Taylor’s actions “shocking” and said the state’s sentencing
guidelines were too lenient. “We should advocate for tougher sentences for
those people who brutalize pets and animals,” he said.
