Bronx Teen Cooks Kitten Alive

Yesterday I stumbled across a story online that literally turned my stomach. Some little maggot of a girl named Cheyenne Cherry broke into an apartment owned by Valerie Hernandez (her ex-roommate) on May 6 and trashed the place by throwing bleach on the walls of the apartment, slashing furniture, unscrewing light bulbs and stealing DVDs and packages of noodles from the residence.
Then, I assume figuring that wasn’t enough, she tossed Hernandez’s kitten, Tiger Lily, into the stove and cranked up the temperature, leaving the kitten to die as she left.
Neighbors called the Fire Department when they smelled smoke coming from Hernandez’s apartment. Firefighters found the female cat’s remains smoldering in the oven. ASPCA assistant director Joe Pentangelo said the kitten’s remains were burned so badly that a necropsy had to be performed to determine its sex.
Following her arrest Wednesday, ASPCA agents say Cherry brushed off the incident as a joke.
“I hate cats,” Cherry allegedly told investigators when asked about the heartless crime. Cherry told authorities that she and her accomplice “thought we would play a joke on Valerie and mess up her apartment.”
“She didn’t want to hear the cat crying and scratching at the oven door,” Pentangelo said of why Cherry turned on the oven.
“I think what was done cries out for justice,” Pentangelo said. “It’s a shame that this kitten had to suffer like this. For the kitten to get caught up in whatever was going on with them is a tragedy.”
Cherry was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals, burglary, arson, reckless endangerment and criminal mischief. She’s facing a possible 10 years in prison, but was somehow released into the custody of her mother. The unidentified juvenile involved in the incident has not been arrested.
There are obvious reasons this story has made me so angry. Cheyenne Cherry put a living being in a stove and left it there to be cooked alive. But for me the worst part was that she was released into the custody of her mother. Do you mean to tell me that in New York City you can break into someone’s apartment, slash their furniture, throw bleach on their walls, steal their property and murder their pet before leaving, and you’ll be released to the custody of your mother without having to pay bail? Holy crap! It’s no wonder this little bitch is a psychopath in training.
To top that all off, now it’s come out that she was arrested in 2008 because she stole a teacup Yorkie from a woman at gunpoint in a Bronx park, then had the nerve to show up with the dog and try to claim a $500 reward that was posted by the owner.
Why is this little miscreant even walking the streets? Despite that June 2008 arrest for larceny and extortion, along with two other busts, Cherry was released without bail after being charged with reckless endangerment, burglary and animal cruelty for causing a Valerie Hernandez’s kitten to die inside a 200-degree oven? What exactly do you have to do to get in real trouble these days?
Another thing that has bothered me has been the decided lack of response from a lot of people I know who I would have expected to be up in arms about something like this. It’s disappointing to me that, like all other forms of morality, the outrage only comes when it doesn’t conflict with schedules, or does come mostly when it matches up to particular events. To me that’s kind of like thinking rape is an outrage, but only getting upset about it during anti-rape rallies, where you can buy the official t-shirt to prove to the world that you really care.
You know, I’ve had a bunch of dunder-head Right-Wingers call me a tree-hugging Liberal because I don’t believe in the death penalty, because they can’t understand the subtleties of my position on that issue. I’m not against putting people to death at all. I just don’t think there’s a way to determined with 100% certainty that someone committed a crime (short of a full confession). Our judicial system is flawed because it allows people to go to prison based on nothing more than circumstantial evidence. Once someone has been put to death for a crime, there’s no way to take that action back should you find out later that they were innocent. Dead is dead. That’s my only objection to the death penalty. Until we have a fool-proof system for determining guilt or innocence, I’ll be against it.
But… there are instances where people not only admit to committing a crime, but brag about it. In my opinion, these people should be moved right to the front of the line. But I don’t think we should put people to death only in cases where they murdered another human being. All sorts of crimes that merit death in my book. Rape is one. Child molestation is another. Homicidal cruelty is another.
In the Book of Wic, Cheyenne Cherry’s crime of putting a kitten in an oven and leaving it to the horrific fate of being cooked alive warrants the death penalty. She has not only admitted doing it, but regards the whole thing as a joke. Therefore, this psychotic bitch is clearly a danger to society, and should be put down like the mad dog that she is. How long is it before she kills a human being? Numerous serial killers have already proven that it’s not a big step from disregarding the lives of animals to killing people.
But don’t get me wrong. I’m not saying Cheyenne Cherry should be put to death because of what she might do in the future. I’m saying Cheyenne Cherry should be put to death for what she did to a kitten named Tiger Lily. If I had my way, she would be marched to a crematory and put into an oven. Then we could all show her exactly the same compassion that she showed that kitten by leaving her to die there, and going somewhere else so that we don’t have to hear her crying and scratching at the oven door.