Sentence handed down for Glynn Johnson, former L.A. County fire official, in beating of neighbor's dog

Former Los Angeles County Assistant Fire Chief Glynn Johnson, who was found guilty earlier this year of felony animal cruelty and using a deadly weapon in the November 2008 beating of his neighbor's puppy, received his sentence Friday.

Although Johnson could have been sentenced to up to four years in prison for beating Karley, a 6-month-old German shepherd mix, he received instead a 90-day sentence and three years' probation. He'll serve the sentence on weekends and is also required to complete anger management training, 400 hours of community service working with dogs and repay Karley's owners for the money they spent on veterinary care in the wake of the beating.

Johnson's beating of the puppy -- whose injuries were so severe that she had to be euthanized -- reportedly followed a longstanding feud with the Toole family, the neighbors who owned Karley. During the trial in Riverside County Superior Court, defense attorneys argued that Johnson beat Karley in self-defense after she attacked him so severely that he feared for his life.

Johnson himself testified that he "was in a combat situation with this dog ... I was doing everything I could to kind of hold the animal at bay so it wouldn't get close to my eyes and face."

Prosecutors countered by arguing that Johnson's attack on Karley was unprovoked.

Travis Staggs, a friend of the Tooles, told The Times in 2009 that he was walking the dog back to her home from his yard on the day of the beating when Johnson offered to take her the rest of the way. "Then something in his head snapped and he started beating the dog," Staggs said. Johnson used both his fist and the "deadly weapon," a 12-pound rock, to beat Karley.

The dog's injuries included multiple skull fractures and a broken jaw. The veterinarian who treated her for her injuries recommended euthanasia as the best option for her, and the Tooles agreed to have her put to sleep.

Outraged animal activists spent weeks demonstrating in front of the district attorney's office to demand Johnson be arrested for the beating.

After a guilty verdict was handed down in the case, owner Jeff Toole told KTLA that the family "knew all along what Glynn was guilty of. It won't bring Karley back, but justice will be served, and our family can move forward."

-- Lindsay Barnett

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Photo: Animal activists demonstrate to protest Karley's beating death on Dec. 18, 2008. Credit: Los Angeles Times

Comments

[Keith]

First a dog then a human, this guy is dangerous and needs to be locked up.

[Lisa Freeman]

They wonder why people take the law in their own hands? Its because the system stinks!!! I don't know how this judge got his position but I hope he's ripped from it soon. Justice was not served was he a personal friend of Glenn's? My heart goes out to the Toole family and the thousands of people around the world who fought for what is right including my self. But as usual for our messed up planet evil always wins. Not whats right or just. Lisa Orlando, FL

[Debra Dephillips]

Unbelivable.... another slap on the wrist and shame on you. WEEKEND confinement! This a a step forward? He can still work and to then to give him more access to animals, seems alittle late for anger management. This just goes to show you our justice system is only for the people who pay.

[L.A. Voter]

What a cowardly piece of garbage Glynn Johnson is. To kill a puppy, then try to evade punishment by pretending he was "afraid" this defenseless puppy was going to hurt him, so he had to break her jaw, torture her and kill her? What kind of worthless judge looks at a criminal like that and doesn't order jail time?

Furthermore, what kind of screening process does the L.A. County Fire Department have that not only lets in a sick, twisted sadist like this, but promotes him to Assistant Chief?

It goes without saying that this piece of human waste should be in jail, but PLEASE -- dog owners: take your neighbors' threats against your animals seriously. Don't imagine there are any bounds of decency and humanity that some sociopaths won't cross. Your animals need your love, yes, but also your protection.

[Tina]

90 days? That's it? For such savagery? I'm very, very disappointed. Plus, he only has to serve the time on weekends. What kind of sentence is that?!

Who was the judge? Let's vote him/her out at our earliest opportunity!

[Sad]

My heart goes out to all people, dogs, animals who suffer. I'm not taking sides here; there is a lot to consider. I have been attacked by dogs, the bites hurt and it is scary!!! Nobody knows how they will react when attacked, it is personal as you are fighting off the attacker (dog, elephant, human, lion, tiger, bear, whatever.). Unfortunately, it ended up very sad for both Glynn and the dog. I can't say what others would do while being attacked, or even shortly after, I can't say what I would do either. Keep your dogs in your yard, license them, love them, feed them well, exercise them, and when they attack another person, accept the consequences of their actions.

The attack on Glynn was unprovoked. If I were minding my own business and a dog ran up and attacked me for now reason, the shock of it all would definitely put me into defense mode, fight or flight, and I'd be angry as hell. I don't think many people would react kindly to it.

I am well aware that the media only reports part of the story............so are you. The dog bit his finger off, he was angry and emotionally charged.

The dog that attacked me ripped open my hand and ripped open my neck right near the juggler vein. I had people there to help me escape, the attack was unprovoked. This is one of my worst moments ever. I remember how hurt and scared I was, not just physically, but emotionally too.

You never know how you would have reacted in this situation, a lot of these animal rights activists that jumped on the bandwagon put people before animals.........they hate men but love animals. You know it, I know it, they know it. Just something to consider.

BY THE WAY, Keith, what human????????

[Sad]

Keith, your post is irresponsible. He did not attack a human. If he did, state their name, time, date. If you can't do that, then please remove the post.

[James]

Judge J Thompson Hanks should be relieved of his duty; he's the biggest evildoer here. His job is to protect society and even when the jury found this pure-evil sociopath guilty, he let him off with less than a slap on the wrist.

Judge Hanks has failed us and should be removed immediately.

[Laura]

Isn't it obvious to the judge that Glynn Johnson is criminally insane? No one in their right mind would get into a "combat situation" - with a puppy! How in the hell did someone this psychotic remain on as an official w/the LAFD?!

[NoActivistJustInfuriated]

The judge said he had to consider Johnson's contributions to society as he sentenced. NO HE DIDN'T have to!! All he had to do was look at whether Johnson is a career criminal or a repeat criminal--looking at his "service" is a profound violation of the American principle of equality before the law. This is the most awful of crimes committed in this case.

However, I don't believe for one second that it was "a combat situation." A six month old dog? Really? A dog that isn't even into the teething stage, isn't even quite yet ready to start chawing on furniture? If Johnson was afraid, he doesn't know ANYTHING about dogs. I don't believe he was afraid. Not for a second. I think his was an act of domestic terrorism--retaliation with the Tooles and an effort to terrorize them into compliance with whatever his view was pertaining to their feud-- and should have been handled that way.

It is an evil court, an evil system and an evil judge who will look at the "personage" of Johnson and not exclusively at his criminality. I guess he's a "lord" in our new feudalism, eh? It is a coward who fears a single six-month-old dog, or a monster who uses a dog as the next weapon for feud.

[L.A. Voter]

"Sad" -- PLEASE read the story before adding your opinion. This puppy did NOT attack Johnson. As every media outlet has reported, another neighbor saw the dog (again, a six month-old PUPPY) and was bringing her home. Far from having the puppy "run up to him," Johnson took the puppy from this neighbor, insisting he would take her home. He then beat her with a rock and broke her jaw. He beat her so badly that she could not be saved. If as she was being killed she damaged his finger -- well, she was fighting for her life. And she lost.

This is a fully grown man, an Assistant Fire Chief, and he tried to weasel out of punishment by claiming he had to beat a six month-old puppy with a TWELVE POUND rock and break her jaw to defend himself. He beat that puppy with a rock heavier than a bag of potatoes. It would be a miracle NOT to kill a puppy -- or a human -- with a weapon like that. I am shorter than average and middle-aged and I could easily defend myself from an attack from a six month-old puppy. Although the fact is I've known lots of puppies and the only thing I had to defend myself from was getting kissed to death. But a man who could lift a twelve pound rock repeatedly to beat a puppy couldn't use that same strength to hold her by the leash at arm's length? Come on!

I'm going to state the obvious here: there was no attack. But even if there had been a puppy attack, it can hardly have been, in your word, unprovoked, since Johnson deliberately approached the neighbor and took the dog away from him, after having threatened the dog in the past. If he feared being attacked why did he take the dog? If the dog "attacked" him why didn't he simply let go of the leash and run home? There was NO attack. From the story it seems clear that the neighbor saw the whole thing and he does not say Karley attacked Johnson. Glynn Johnson beat and tortured that poor puppy to death in cold blood, because he is a monster. And now a judge has let him go with essentially no punishment. And what happens when he next attacks a human? Will another person too lazy to read the whole story leap up to say there "are two sides to the story"? Get a moral compass and some common sense, people.

[scout]

Excerpt from article from the Animal Defense Fund regarding the attack on the 6 month old puppy named Karley (this gives you a good description of what happened to Karley when she was beaten by Johnson):

"Authorities have charged Karley’s alleged attacker, Glynn Johnson, with felony animal cruelty for an assault witnesses say was unprovoked. They testified in a pre-trial hearing that after the puppy had run across his yard, Johnson, an assistant fire chief with Los Angeles County, discovered neighbor Travis Staggs taking Karley to the Toole’s home on the other side of his own property in an unincorporated area of Riverside, Calif. The defendant offered to walk Karley back to the Tooles himself, so Staggs turned the German shepherd mix over to him. “Then something in his head snapped and he started beating the dog,” Staggs told the court. He said that Johnson punched Karley with a closed fist about a dozen times and then beat her with an 11-inch rock, adding that he tried to stop the attack, but Johnson pushed him away."

"Staggs said Johnson finally stopped hitting Karley after her body went limp; she then managed to stumble to a nearby ravine. The Toole’s teenage children, Brandon and Heather, rushed Karley to a veterinarian and later an animal intensive care unit, but her injuries were too extensive. In addition to her skull being cracked in three places, Karley lost an eye and suffered a broken jaw, crushed nasal cavity and a collapsed ear canal. “I’ve never seen a dog come in with that level of head injury,” says Angela Howard, DVM, one of the veterinarians who treated Karley. “I’ve seen pets who have been hit by cars and they were thrown by the car and suffered fractures to the nose or skull, but I’ve never seen a case where their head was that badly damaged.” "

[L.A. Voter]

And really, "Sad" -- you think you have a "juggler" vein? Think you may have dropped the ball on that one...

[trudye]

Mr. Johnson has anger issues that go far deeper than a few anger management classes can touch. A 6-month old pup, no matter what size can be managed by stopping, and speaking kindly. The dog probably was scared also, they know when a human is someone not to be around........so I'm thinking Karley was trying her best to escape this person she knew was bad news. My prayers go to her family and my pity to this man. What a sleaze, public official or not. At least in his area he has now branded himself an animal abuser.......good job there moron.

[Lisa Williamson]

Despicable, hideous, heinous and horrific does not even begin to describe this brutal killing of an innocent puppy by this horrible cave man/ wretched excuse for a human being.

As Bob Dylan sang, "Even Jesus would never forgive the things that you do."

[Sharon]

No amount of "anger management" will solve this guy's blind rage. He literally got away with murder. Hmmm, reminds me of a similar murderer. . . remember OJ?

[Anonymous]

You call that justice? Way to screw up again, American justice system. What a fail. This man is like Trooper Shawn C. Houston, who murdered a kitten because it was climbing on his property.

These departments need to make better psych evaluations, because they clearly are not sufficient in sifting out the nuts and the screws.