Demetria Hogan, the former Memphis ACO who uh, “lost” Kapone and then attempted to evade police while a dog named Max suffered and died in her truck, went before a judge today and got her charges reduced:
A judge has decided former Memphis Animal Services employee Demetria Hogan will now only face one count of animal cruelty.
Way to set an example Memphis.
Update: Another news source describes 2 of the 3 charges as “dismissed for now”:
One count of animal cruelty against a former Memphis Animal Services officer was bound over to a grand jury today, while two other counts were dismissed.
Demetria Hogan faces the misdemeanor charge in a high-profile case involving a pit bull named Kapone that disappeared while in her care last summer and became the object of a citywide search.
[…]
State prosecutor Bryan Davis said “an essential witness” was missing today in that case, but that both dismissed cases still will be presented to the grand jury along with the Kapone case.
Stay tuned.
I honestly can’t take any more.
Apparently there isn’t any justice to be found for those poor animals and their families in Memphis. Sad commentary on the entire system in that city.
Wow. Way to throw the book at ’em. Who is the judge? Can we write to them and tell them they suck?
Well, they only had the one dead dog in the back of the truck. Kapone is still officially “missing” as far as I know…although what her explanation of events resulting in that status of him, I don’t know.
I think she should have been charged with cruelty (for Max) and theft (for Kapone). She took him and stole him.
Wait…they dropped the cruelty charge on Max’s death? How does that even make sense? They KNOW she caused his death by leaving him in the truck while she tried to avoid the police – that cannot be refuted.
All those stories with her photo are hard to look at…it’s like a soulless killer looking back at you.
Here’s a wild prediction: Now that Max’s death has been kicked to the curb, imagine if somehow Kapone showed up tied to the MAS gate one morning. Voila! No more charges. And Hogan could say “I told ya I left him at the pound. They must have had him all along!”
I’d love for Kapone to be tied to the gate one morning. I just don’t think he’s alive, though.
I fear his poor family will never get answers or any form of justice.
Is this really surprising? They haven’t figured out the cruelty case/raid from 2 years ago? What’s really going on??? smh
Ugh! Par for the course. So many animal abusers get off with idiot judges!
I was in court today for the prelim hearing.
Two of the witnesses did not show on the Max case.
The Max case was dismissed without prejudice. The DA is sending it immediately to the grand jury where, as the judge explained to Ms. Hogan, an indictment will be handed down on the same charge. She will be re-arrested, re-booked, re-jailed, re-bonded…everything except it will go to indictemnt straight to court.
This charges in this case are by NO MEANS reduced!
In fact, now she does not have to go through a prelim, the charges go straight to court.
In the Kapone case, the charges are for animal cruelty.
In the Max case the charges are for animal cruelty.
The charges of animal cruelty in the case of Jersey, the Shoups other dog, were dismissed, as they should have been. There just was not any evidence to prove cruelty and that might have ultimately hurt the Kapone case.
Thank you for the update, Cindy!
Thanks for letting us know Cindy.
Thank you Cindy. I was having a fit until I read your post.
Apparently they did not subpoena the witnesses? Can they be subpoenaed? If subpoenaed, I believe the WITNESSES can be arrested if they fail to show. What do u know about this? DA or whoever is making the charges should NEVER rely on a witness to show voluntarily in a case like this.
All witnesses were served. No one said they weren’t. Also it does not serve an attorney well to have their own witnesses arrested.
The case has been dismissed. It will go to the grand jury.
This is a good thing.
Who did not show up in court? Hopefully not the shelter vet!
The shelter vet was in court.
The shelter workers were in court.
Citizens who saw Max in the field did not show.
So it was the irresponsible public! That is funny.
I saw Ms Hogan on the news in court, wearing that shit eating grin like she was proud of something. I wanted to slap my TV.
I am ashamed of Memphis for their incompetent running of the “shelter”, hireing the thugs to work with animals in their “hug a thug” program, and for allowing the thug, Ms hogan, to walk in & out of court and not be immediately put behind bars for a long stretch.
The Judge, grand jury, District Attorney, all need to hear from us with opinions. I’m not the only one to believe dog thieves, abusers & killers belong behind bars, especially when it was her job to do the opposite.
Patience … This article is NOT “no-kill propaganda”! Did you actually READ it? Pepper defends his employees’ VIOLAION of written policy regarding removing animals from cages before cleaning them. It is not a question of ‘where to put them’ while cleaning – that is inane. The simple answer is another employee, or a VOLUNTEER, holds or walks the dog while its cage is being cleaned. (what a concept … !!!) Pepper has NOTHING to say about repeated ABSENCES by ACOs at their court dates for THEIR cases. Pepper says the public doesn’t know what they did about any employee that has violated policies – that is because neither he nor the city BOTHER to TELL the public anything. Pepper still has excuses for ‘bad paperwork’ – he has had over 1 year to fix that but apparently has failed to do so. Pepper’s own public statements about why so many dogs are killed are totally REFUTED by the actual STATISTICS that are recorded in their software for each animal that enters the shelter. Pepper and his staff kill healthy, adoptable dogs EVERY WORKING DAY. There is a LOT of “in between”! There are SEVERAL things the shelter could ALREADY BE DOING if the managers bothered to manage the employees and the processes. They have had their current software, Chameleon, for over 5 years, yet they still do NOT use it anywhere NEAR its full capabilities. They do NOT use sedation for euthanasia! That is INDEFENSIBLE, especially by the 2 veterinarians on the Advisory Board. They have not had any offsite adoption events in MONTHS! Why not? Their adoption rates would be several points HIGHER if they allowed the public in the stray area. The public was ALWAYS allowed in that area until Pepper CHANGED it. I think it YOU that is ‘uninformed’ – is that by accident or by choice?