CONTACT: Doll Stanley, doll@idausa.org, 662-809-4483

VIDEO (Graphic): https://youtu.be/mLW8erts66Q

IMAGES: http://bit.ly/2cU2Xkm

BASTROP, La. (October 12, 2017) – In Defense of Animals has delivered a letter signed by 21,000 people supporting Morehouse Parish District Attorney Steve Tew in prosecuting the notorious Louisiana Snapchat Dog slayers Boots Stanley, a convicted felon, and Steven Sadler. In August of 2016, the two depraved residents of Hamburg, Arkansas, played a sadistic game with a docile dog that culminated in Sadler slitting the dog's throat while Stanley videoed the crime. The video of the brutal killing went viral after it was posted on Snapchat, resulting in the arrest of the sociopaths. Animal advocates named the dog Justice and want to see this severe animal cruelty punished. 

In Defense of Animals' Justice for Animals Campaign Director met with DA Tew regarding the case on Tuesday, October 10, 2017. Doll Stanley presented DA Tew with In Defense of Animals' letter signed by 21,000 members of the public supporting DA Tew's prosecution of the defendants. 

“We have been overwhelmed by the public interest in this brutal dog killing, and I applaud DA Tew for his commitment to the prosecution of this soulless act,” reported In Defense of Animals Campaigner Doll Stanley. “Tew and his team are working on the case and we hope that they will push for the strongest possible sentencing and psychiatric evaluation of these disturbed men.” 

Sadler and Stanley were arrested by authorities on August 25, 2016, with the cooperation of the Ashley County Sheriff’s Department, Morehouse Parish Sheriff’s Department, and the Hamburg Police Department. The pair was charged with Class B Felony, a count of aggravated cruelty to an animal and a count of conspiracy to commit a crime. 

Boots Stanley and Steven Sadler's defense has entered a motion for dismissal on grounds that the state statute under which they are being prosecuted is unconstitutional. The hearing for this morbid crime ironically falls on Halloween, October 31, 2017. If the motion fails, and DA Tew is confident that it will, the duo will be tried in 2018. 

“This crime was diabolic,” said Doll Stanley, who spearheads In Defense of Animals’ Justice for Animals campaign based in Mississippi. “There is no conceivable reasoning for anyone, particularly two grown men, to toy with a docile, trusting animal and then to sadistically slit the innocent animal's throat. Crimes of this nature fray the fabric of society. It is clear that the men's association with the Bastrop ‘kill barn,’ a business engaged in the selling of US horses for slaughter outside the US, has had an ill effect on the men. In Defense of Animals will not rest until these sadists are convicted and sentenced to the fullest extent of the law.” 

In Defense of Animals’ Justice for Animals campaign is working tirelessly to advance the cause for justice and show state legislators that the people of Mississippi are united against senseless and horrific animal abuse and in this case to publicize the fact that Louisiana, Arkansas, and surrounding states have a first offense felony statute for aggravated cruelty, a crime which in Mississippi is a misdemeanor for a first offense. 

Campaign members are aligning with judges, prosecuting attorneys, law enforcement officials, legislators, animal advocates and concerned citizens to pass meaningful regional ordinances that will protect animals when state statutes fail. In Defense of Animals has served in the Deep South for 24 years, aiding victims and law enforcement with hundreds of cruelty reports. 

For more information, please visit www.idausa.org 

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In Defense of Animals’ Justice for Animals campaign is actively working with officials in communities, building a groundswell of support for establishing and amending city and county ordinances as part of its campaign to show state lawmakers that Mississippians will not tolerate animal cruelty. 

In Defense of Animals is an international animal protection organization with over 250,000 supporters and a 30-year history of protecting animals’ rights, welfare and habitats through education, campaigns and hands-on rescue facilities in India, Africa, and rural Mississippi.