Remember the cat named Boots from a Muncie, Indiana?

Boots
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Friday, March 14, 2008
Daniel J. Collins Allegedly Told His Children To Stab And Kill Boots The Family Tuxedo Type Cat ~ by T.J.
http://legalpublication.blogspot.com/2008_03_01_archive.html
Daniel J. Collins is apparently a 39 year old man with incredibly poor judgment. Apparently Mr. Collins of Muncie, Indiana, told his children on Sunday that he wanted them to "learn how to kill." This is a rather bizarre request of children who are visiting a father's home. If it were rural Indiana, one might suspect he was going to take his children out to the farm to watch chicken or steers begin the process of becoming food. But no, apparently Mr. Collins saw fit to give his 11-year-old son a knife to try to kill the family cat.
The boy apparently had a humane heart and tried to save the cat by hiding it under a sofa. The rather clever son put ketchup on the knife to look like he had carried out his father's request. However, apparently good old Dad was not fooled by his son and so he apparently forced his daughter to hold the knife and guided her hand into stabbing the cat. Muncie police Detective Jami Brown, the chief detective in the case, has apparently filed a charging affidavit accordingly.
According to police, Collins ended up stabbing and strangled the cat himself. Collins then supposedly asked his son to throw the carcass in the trash. Apparently, the children told family members about the incident the next day and blamed it on their fathers drinking. Apparently the children live with their grandparents. Charges are pending in Delaware County and bail is set at $40,000. Collins faces charges of one count of animal cruelty and one count of battery. Collins, a Navy veteran also faces two counts of neglect of a dependent.
The battery charge against Collins alleges that his daughter was injured when Collins held her hand to guide the knife.
Boots was an 8-month-old tuxedo-type cat. She had all 9 of her lives ahead of her at the time of her death.

Update 3-29: The HSUS: "The Humane Society of the United States, the nation's largest animal protection organization, wrote to Delaware County Prosecuting Attorney Mark McKinney today, calling for aggressive investigation and prosecution, if warranted... The HSUS monitors incidents of cruelty across the U.S. and provides input to prosecutors in more than 200 cases annually."

Cat killer gets 18 months for 'despicable act'
http://www.thestarpress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080829/NEWS01/808290344
Daniel J. Collins
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Lock that bastard away, what a psycho. Good God.

What can be expected of him when he gets out?

He should spend the rest of his life shackled to a wall in an institution for the criminally insane.

That seems really high, and I'll bet it's similar here in the U.S.. Maybe higher.

I also read some time ago that part of the training in the service can include killing
animals in order to train them to 'kill'. Even if they don't go through that, they ARE
trained to kill. I'm not sure if that's true of the Navy (the branch of the service this
man was in) or if this man's military experience had any bearing on this situation.

Not an excuse, but something to consider.