Viewers Voice: Animal abuse cases dismissed, upsets viewers

By Miriam Zamorano

CREATED Dec. 5, 2012

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LEE COUNTY, Fla. - Animal lovers and officers from Lee County Animal Services are protesting because they say a local judge isn't coming down hard enough on animal cruelty offenders.

They say judge Frank Mann is dismissing animal cruelty cases without weighing all the evidence.

"We need someone on that bench that can represent the animals that are not able to be here to represent themselves", said protester, Mark Dahlberg.

Fox Four was in court and within an hour and a half there were 13 cases. Seven had charges dismissed and others handed small fines.
 
Judge Mann had the defendants raise their right hand to swear they were telling the truth but he did not appear to review any photos or evidence.
 
We reached out to judge Mann for a response but haven't heard back. 
 
Fox Four viewers responded on Facebook.
 
James wrote, "What happens if someone was cruel to him? I bet he wouldn't like it and throw them in jail."
 
Lisa added, "I wonder if he would rule the same in child abuse cases?"
 
Chris took a different perspective and posted, "Sounds like a lot of frivolous lawsuits to me. Want to do something to protect the innocent, go picket planned parenthood!"
 
Frank said, "Most of those cases mentioned are ridiculous, I would throw some of them out too."