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A prison guard in New York State deliberately crushed to death a box of kittens found in an inmate's cell during cell checks. According to reports, Sergeant Ronald Hunlock ordered the inmate to drop the kittens in the trash compactor. When the inmate refused, Hunlock picked up the kittens himself, dumped them into the compactor and turned it on, crushing the kittens to death. The kittens' mother escaped by running across the yard and is currently being cared for in a local shelter.

Hunlock appeared before the Grand Jury on May 4, 2001. He pled not guilty to charges of Felony Animal Cruelty. Hunlock's trial will be some time in September.

Please send letters asking for a stern sentence for Mr. Hunlock and refer to the strong connection between animal cruelty and violence against humans.

Send letters to:
[email protected]
or:
Prosecuting Attorney Lynn Rosenthal
111 Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard
White Plains, NY 10601
(letters only please )

Also contact the prison and demand the immediate removal of this officer as he poses a threat not only to animals but to humans. This act was malicious and was done purely to intimidate the inmate caring for the mother cat and her kittens.

Sing Sing Correctional Facility
354 Hunter Street
Ossining, NY 10562-5442
Phone: 914-941-0108

October 29, 2001

BY FACSIMILE 914-995-4182

The Honorable Peter M. Leavitt
Westchester County Courthouse, 10TH floor
111 Dr. Martin Luther King Blvd
White Plains, NY, 10601

Re: Ronald Hunlock
Date of Trial: November 1, 2001

Dear Judge Leavitt:

Please invoke the harshest sentence possible under New York law to Ronald Hunlock, a former Sing Sing prison guard, who admitted tossing a box of 5 kittens into a trash compactor & turning on the machine to kill the kittens. He apparently found the box of kittens in an inmate's cell, ordered the inmate to take the kittens out to the trash compactor & when the inmate refused, Hunlock did so himself. The incident occurred on March 11th.

As I'm sure you already know, too many animal abusers "got away" with it and continued; from Jeffrey Dahmer to Albert De Salvo to Luke Woodham. Psychiatric or substance abuse evaluation/counseling ("burn-out") shouldn't become a "sympathy" factor. He is as much a criminal as, if not worse
then, the inmates he was being paid to watch. Violent crime is still the same thing whether the victim walked on two legs or four.

Mental health professionals and top law enforcement officials consider cruelty to animals a dangerous signal. The American Psychiatric Association considers animal cruelty one of the diagnostic criteria for conduct disorders, and the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) uses reports of animal cruelty in analyzing the threat potential of suspected and known criminals.

It isn't the species of the victim, it's the viciousness of the act that makes one culpable. Please do not allow this incident to be trivialized because the victims were kittens this time. My hope for Ronald Hunlock is that he will go to jail, and it is unfortunate that he will never get back to Sing Sing as an inmate this time; but his heinous cruelty must not be allowed to be treated lightly.

Sincerely

Lynn Walker

WHITE PLAINS - A Sing Sing correction officer admitted yesterday that he crushed five kittens in a prison trash compactor, but his lawyer asked the judge to dismiss the animal-cruelty charges against him on the grounds that the new state law under which he was charged is unconstitutional.

Sgt. Ronald Hunlock said he disposed of the kittens after finding them in an inmate's cell on March 11, because they appeared to be sick and he had no other way of getting rid of them. The kittens died, but their mother, Midnight, managed to escape from the box they were in and got out of the compactor.

"I made a decision based on my experience as a supervisor," he said.

On cross-examination, Hunlock acknowledged that he wrote in a memo to his superiors that the animals "would not survive the night," which seemed to contradict his earlier testimony that the mother cat was walking.

"Those kittens were not breathing properly," said Hunlock. "There was white stuff coming out of the noses and mouths. Their hair was matted. They were nasty-looking. They stunk."

The five kittens and their mother were discovered in the cellblock of John Williams, a convicted armed robber. Hunlock ordered the inmate to put the cats in the compactor, but when Williams refused, Hunlock did it himself.

Both Hunlock and Noel Morris, a correction officer who testified for the defense, said there was a well-known cat problem at Sing Sing, but never any directives about what to do about the animals.

They said for years they could take the stray cats from Sing Sing to an animal shelter in Ossining, but a few years ago they stopped taking them.

Referring to himself in third person, Hunlock said:

"Sergeant Hunlock does not make a habit of killing kittens."

In closing statements, defense lawyer Daniel Gallivan made a motion to dismiss the case. He said the language of the statute that makes it a felony to kill domestic animals, dubbed "Buster's Law," is vague, broad and unconstitutional.

Westchester County Judge Peter M. Leavitt took the motion under
consideration, saying the state Legislature has been considering the constitutionality of the statute. Leavitt adjourned the trial until Dec. 3, when the court will reconvene and he will make a decision on the motion.

Buster's Law, officially known as the Felony Animal Cruelty Law, created the category of "aggravated cruelty to animals." A person convicted of the felony can face up to two years in prison and a $5,000 fine. It took the nickname from an 18-month-old tabby that was doused with kerosene and burned to death by a Schenectady teen in 1997, and it went into effect Nov. 1,
1999.

"This statute is constitutional," said Anne Marie Corbalis, spokeswoman for the Westchester County District Attorney's Office. "This defendant was properly charged under the statute and any challenge to the constitutionality of the law must be done through the proper mechanism."

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. (AP) - A prison guard was convicted Tuesday of aggravated cruelty to animals for crushing five kittens to death in a trash compactor at Sing Sing.

Ronald Hunlock, 47, could get up to two years in prison.

``In the overall scheme of things in today's world, the lives of five kittens could easily be considered of slight significance by some,'' said Judge Peter Leavitt, announcing his verdict after a non-jury trial. ``This court feels differently.''

Hunlock was also convicted of trying to kill the kittens' mother, who escaped from the compactor at the last moment and has since been adopted.

He showed no reaction on hearing the verdict.

Hunlock found the kittens in a search of an inmate's cell at the state prison last month and ordered the prisoner to put them in the compactor. When the inmate refused, Hunlock did it himself.

He claimed the cats were deathly ill.

Hunlock has been suspended without pay and will be fired upon his sentencing March 19, corrections officials said.

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. A prison guard was convicted Tuesday of aggravated cruelty to animals for crushing five kittens to death in a compactor at Sing Sing.

Ronald Hunlock, 47, could be sentenced to up to two years in prison under a new state law that makes the crime a felony.

"In the overall scheme of things in today's world, the lives of five kittens could easily be considered of slight significance by some," said Westchester County Court Judge Peter Leavitt, announcing his verdict after a non-jury trial. "This court feels differently."

Hunlock was also convicted of attempted aggravated cruelty for trying to kill the kittens' mother, who escaped from the compactor at the last moment and has since been adopted. He showed no reaction on hearing the verdict, but some relatives in the gallery shook their heads.

Hunlock found an inmate with contraband on March 11 at the Sing Sing Correctional Facility in Ossining. He then searched the inmate's cell, found the six cats and ordered the inmate to put them in the compactor. When the inmate refused, Hunlock did it himself. He claimed the cats were deathly ill and the prison had no guidelines for the situation

Since he was charged, Hunlock has been suspended without pay by the state Department of Correctional Services. The
department did not immediately return a call on Tuesday.

The judge, in ordering a presentence investigation, suggested he might consider sentencing Hunlock to probation coupled with community service "at an animal shelter or cleaning stables for the mounted police."

He scheduled sentencing for March 19.

Please Note: Sentencing Will Be March 20

The judge who will sentence Ronald Hunlock has been assigned to the case.

Contact:
The Honorable Kenneth H. Lange
Westchester County Court
111 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
White Plains, NY 10601
phone: 914-995-4301
fax: 914-995-4182

As you may recall, Hunlock was found guilty in December on 5 felony counts of animal cruelty for crushing kittens to death in a trash compactor (more details in article posted below). His sentencing is scheduled for March 20 in Westchester County Court.

Please contact the new judge (posted above) and ask that Hunlock receive the maximum prison term of two years which is appropriate to this heinous crime. Hunlock showed little remorse at his trial and was in fact quite defiant when he admitted that he knowingly placed the kittens -- along with their mother who escaped -- in a sealed carton in the trash compactor. His excuse was that they were diseased, but this pathetic attempt to justify his actions was exposed by his other actions and behaviors at the time.

The previous judge, who presided over the trial and retired at the end of 2001, had suggested that since this was Hunlock's first offense, he should perhaps be given probation and community service at an animal shelter or stable. Please write polite letters to the newly assigned judge with your comments about why that would not be appropriate to this crime.

Sing Sing guard found guilty of killing cats

By JONATHAN BANDLER
THE JOURNAL NEWS
(Original publication: Dec. 19, 2001)

WHITE PLAINS - A Sing Sing correction officer who crushed five kittens to death in a prison trash compactor was convicted yesterday of aggravated cruelty to animals.

Westchester County Judge Peter Leavitt rejected Sgt. Ronald Hunlock's defense that the animals were so sick that he had no alternative but to kill them the way he did. The judge also refused to dismiss the most serious charges, rejecting the defense contention that a state law making aggravated animal cruelty a felony is unconstitutional.

"The court is aware that, in the overall scheme of things in today's world, the lives of five kittens could easily be considered of slight significance to some," Leavitt said before announcing the guilty verdict. "This court feels differently."

Hunlock, 47, was convicted of five felony counts following the non-jury trial and could face up to two years in state prison when he is sentenced on March 19. Another judge will sentence the 20-year prison guard because Leavitt is retiring.

Animal rights activists hailed the verdict yesterday and called for Hunlock's incarceration.

"This makes it clear that it's never acceptable to put an animal in a compactor and crush them to death," said Dobbs Ferry resident Barbara Stagno, director of the local chapter of In Defense of Animals, who was worried Leavitt might strike down the law. "This was about how society views animal cruelty. It wasn't just about those five kittens."

Hunlock and his lawyer, Daniel Gallivan, left the courtroom immediately after the verdict was read and could not be reached for comment. The sergeant's wife and several correction officers who were there to support him refused to discuss the verdict. Hunlock had been suspended without pay
by the state Department of Corrections. He will officially lose his job once he is sentenced, department spokesman James Flateau said yesterday.

The kittens were born to a black tabby named Midnight in early March and were cared for by inmate John Williams. On March 11, Hunlock saw Williams with a bag of contraband and searched the inmate's cell. He found the cats and ordered Williams to put them in a sealed box. He then accompanied
Williams to the compactor and told him to throw the box inside. When Williams refused, Hunlock tossed the cats into the compactor and held the button down as the kittens were crushed. Midnight managed to jump out of the compactor when it went on. Hunlock was also convicted of attempted
aggravated animal cruelty, a misdemeanor, for trying to kill Midnight, who appeared at the trial and has since been adopted.

Hunlock testified that he had to kill the kittens because they were diseased and he wanted to protect the inmates and guards. A local animal shelter was no longer accepting stray cats from the prison, and Hunlock said he did not want to put the kittens outside the prison yard because of their condition.

But Williams and other inmates testified that the kittens showed no signs of being sick. A veterinarian testified that Midnight was in good physical condition when she examined her later in March.

Assistant District Attorney Lynn Rosenthal said Hunlock killed the kittens to punish Williams, abusing his authority simply because he could as a correction officer.

Leavitt said yesterday that he had concerns about the language in the felony statute - as did several state Assembly members who are working to amend it or simply change the misdemeanor animal cruelty law to a felony.

But he added state laws are "presumptively valid" and that Gallivan did not meet the strict burden of showing that the law was so overly broad that it was unconstitutional.

Although Leavitt will not sentence Hunlock, he said the proper judgment for a correction officer with no criminal record might be probation and community service. He suggested that in Hunlock's case, community service
might involve working at an animal shelter or cleaning stables for the mounted police.

But Diane Sautner, a volunteer with the group Just Strays, said a non-jail sentence to teach Hunlock tolerance of animals was not a good idea.

"I'm with an animal rescue group, and I know I don't want him anywhere near cats ever again," said Sautner, who lives in Greenburgh. "He belongs in jail. The convicts have more heart than he does, so maybe he'll learn some compassion if he's one of them."