ROELAND PARK, KANSAS - The Friday court proceedings indicate chances are, Mr.Lewis may never be sentenced.
Municipal Judge Karen Torline decided to delay sentencing since Lewis told her in court this morning that Northeast Johnson County Animal Control had agreed to guarantee that the cats will not be euthanized and will pay the fees if they are turned over to Pets Unleashed to find new homes.
“Why don’t we defer sentencing,” the judge said.
When Lewis asked Torline to restate her reasons for finding that he is the owner of the cats, the judge told him it was because he is caring for them and feeding them on a regular basis.
“You are harboring them,” Torline said.
After a November trial, the judge ruled that Lewis was the owner of the feral cats and was guilty of violating the Roeland Park animal control ordinance which prohibits allowing dogs or cats to roam free in the city.
The ownership ruling was key because that section of the ordinance also says that “This shall not apply to unowned ear-tipped feral cats.” Ear-tipping is the method used to identify a feral cat that has been trapped, neutered, vaccinated and returned to the colony (TNR). Lewis has trapped dozens of feral cats on his property over the last 20 years. Animal control has removed some by the SPCA to humanely reduce the feral cat population.
Prosecutor Frank Gilman suggested no sentence would be recommended if Lewis could come back to court and say the cats have been removed. Lewis will be back in court after the holidays on Jan. 22. The judge said she was concerned that the cats are running around loose. “Maybe if we resolve that (we) can end this case.”
Since Lewis’s story was first told on Monday, several events have panned out. One of the three cats that Lewis trapped in 2014 for TNR had been missing since this past October. He was an older male and Lewis presumed he had gone off and died. But Wednesday, he showed up back in the yard with significant weight loss and injuries which would indicate that the cat was attacked by a dog.
Lewis called animal control and he and Officer Brenda Bettis have since trapped the cat. Animal control took it to a veterinarian for treatment and then to Pets Unleashed with a promise, Lewis said, that the cat will not be euthanized. Animal control is paying all of the fees, Lewis said. He checked on the cat Thursday and took over food supplies for the cat. The hope is that Pets Unleashed will find someone to adopt him.
“Somebody is trapping them and dumping them,” Lewis said of the cats. Another one of the three had disappeared for a while and then showed up again under weight this fall. Lewis said when he saw a third cat in the yard Wednesday his first hought was, “oh, no, not another cat.” He didn’t recognize the returning cat at first because of the cat’s condition.
Animal control, Lewis said, wants him to trap the remaining cats take them to Pets Unleashed and on top of that has promised to pay the fees. Animal control cited Lewis for allowing the cats to run loose in the yard just the past August, acting on a complaint. Lewis said animal control had known for a full year that the TNR cats were in his yard – with no citations – before charges were pressed.
“It relieves me of the responsibility of caring for them,” Lewis said of the offer from animal control, “plus now I know someone in the neighborhood is trapping and dumping them.”
Lewis still considers the judge’s ruling to be a mistake.
“People I’ve spoken with agree that this is not a reasonable interpretation,” Lewis said.
Her ruling that he owned the cats is exactly why ear-tipped feral cats are excluded from this ordinance, Lewis said. “Based on her logic, there would be no ‘unowned’ ear-tipped cats and there is no point in having all of those sentences added on (the multiple exclusions in the ordinance for unowned ear-tipped feral cats).”
Lewis is considering asking the city council to change the ordinance to make it clear that the ear-tipped cats are unowned, perhaps by removing the word “unowned.” Lewis has maintained that he was doing the right thing to address the feral cat problem that has plagued his north Juniper neighborhood for so many years, but ended up in court for his efforts.
Judge Torline noted Friday morning that Lewis had indicated plans to appeal the guilty verdict to Johnson County District Court, however, that appeal cannot be made until after he is sentenced.
The Friday court proceedings indicate chances are, Mr.Lewis may never be sentenced.
Source: pvpost.com