Man gets 10 years for dogfighting

Richmond Circuit Judge Beverly W. Snukals had been down this road before with Richard E. Robinson, and she selected probation as his punishment.

This time, she handed down one of the stiffest prison sentences ever imposed in the United States for dogfighting.

Snukals yesterday ordered Robinson, 33, to spend 10 years behind bars for his convictions on three felonies and one misdemeanor related to a dogfighting operation at his South Richmond home.

Snukals also ordered Robinson to pay a $2,500 fine and $4,008 in restitution to Richmond Animal Care & Control.

It was a far different outcome than in May 2005, when Robinson was convicted in another dogfighting case. That time, Snukals gave him a five-year term but suspended all five years and ordered him instead to serve five years of supervised probation.

Robinson was arrested again last June, 11 months before that probationary term was to have ended.

Yesterday, Snukals shook her head as she said Robinson had failed to learn a lesson from his previous conviction -- or from the storm of publicity that followed the downfall of NFL star Michael Vick, also as a result of a dogfighting conviction in Virginia.

"He had that information available to him between 2005 and today," Snukals said, "and neither of those events changed his behavior."

On Dec. 16, a jury convicted Robinson on one misdemeanor count of animal cruelty and recommended one year in jail and a $2,500 fine. The panel recommended three years in prison on each of three felony convictions: one count of dogfighting and two of animal fighting.

In addition to imposing the jury's recommendations yesterday and ordering restitution, Snukals found Robinson in violation of the terms of his probation from the 2005 conviction. The judge reimposed the five-year prison term from that case but then re-suspended the term.

The judge also prohibited Robinson from possessing or owning any companion animals for the rest of his life.

The 10-year term -- authorities said no Virginia dogfighting case ever had produced a prison sentence longer than four years -- far exceeded the nationwide norm.

"Two to five years is what we are typically seeing," said Randall Lockwood, senior vice president for anti-cruelty initiatives for The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

Lockwood said there have been a few dogfighting cases in other states where prison sentences have stretched to 40 years, but those terms also included convictions for drugs and/or weapons.

"Certainly the public concern about dogfighting has risen dramatically in the last two or three years," Lockwood, author of the book "Cruelty to Animals and Interpersonal Violence," said in a telephone interview.

"In Virginia, the Michael Vick case was an eye-opener to dogfighting and what goes on in it," he said, "and I'm sure that was one driving force behind this sentence. Juries are more in tune to animal violence now."

When Robinson was arrested in June, authorities recovered 12 dogs -- 11 of them pit bulls -- from the house he shared with his mother, Ardeller Morris, in the 2100 block of Wright Avenue.

Nine of the dogs were euthanized because they were judged to be severely aggressive, and another was put down because it had facial wounds that had become badly infected.

Almost all the dogs had what authorities said were fresh wounds that were consistent with dogfighting.

Dogfighting manuals and bodybuilding supplements were found inside the house. Tools commonly used in dogfighting operations, including heavy chains often tied around the necks of dogs to help them build strength, were found outside in a rear area of the property that had become known as "Old School Kennels."

Defense attorney Shannon Taylor asked Snukals to limit Robinson's prison term to four years.

Assistant Commonwealth's Attorney Jed Patterson, saying Robinson had ignored the seriousness of his previous conviction, urged the judge to follow the jury's recommendation.

"He was well aware of the consequences and potential consequences of dogfighting," Patterson said.

Morris, 61, was charged this month with 10 counts of felony dogfighting and 11 counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty. No trial date for her has been set.

Contact Joe Macenka at (804) 649-6804 or jmacenka@timesdispatch.com.