Michael Cicconetti, the American judge who punished animal abusers “with their own medicine”

When we think of respecting the law, a prison sentence or community work always comes to mind. But there is a judge named Michael Cicconetii who applied creative phrases when it comes to enforcing justice.

The man considers himself an animal advocate and charged an extravagant amount to anyone who had some kind of animal abuse complaint. On one occasion, a woman who abandoned 35 cats in a forest was sentenced by Michael to spend a night in the same place.

His unusual style allowed him to make himself known United States of America as a bulwark for the defense of animals. Judge Coccinetti’s reputation and his methods have been part of various television programs, including the famous show Good morning America. .

He has always been a special person

Michael Anthony Cicconetti was born on April 24, 1951 in the United States. Since he was a child he has always been against tradition. He attended Riverside High School in Painesville and played football and acted in his class during his junior and senior years.

As a young man he worked on a mining ship for a year. After a season at Lakeland Community College, Cicconetti enrolled at St. Leo’s University in Florida, where he earned degrees in Political Science and Secondary Education.

In 1973, after graduating from college, he got a job as assistant commissioners of Lake County, where he was in charge of dealing with the county’s unregistered dogs.

Cicconetti subsequently set up a law practice in Lake County and built a reputation for unconventional representation. He has loved animals all his life. and this was the entrance door to be able to defend them from a privileged place.

His unconventional method has attracted attention

A few years later, in 1994, Cicconetti is president of the municipal court of Painesville. As a judge, he had the distinction of issuing “unconventional sentences” to people convicted of minor crimes. Her first creative sentence dates back to 1995, a woman named Michael Murray had abandoned 35 kittens on a decommissioned bus near a forest. A phone call alerted the carabinieri of the situation who immediately identified the culprit.

When the case reached Cicconetti’s court, it gave the woman the choice between going to prison for 12 months or spending a winter night in the same forest where she had left the kittens. The woman accepted the unconventional punishment and her sentence was significantly reduced. With his particular way of enforcing the laws, Michael always made the guilty of their crimes repent.

Some time later, Cicconeti said that with the sentence he gave to Michael Murray he meant to set an example for the future conduct of people: “Even Animals Suffer”were the words that the Judge addressed to the convict, as reported Daily mail.

An excessive love for animals

Crimes against animals have been very painful for Michael. Therefore, he continued with his methods. In early 2001, Cicconetti gave a woman who was convicted of animal abuse for abandoning a dog in a house full of trash two options: go to jail for several months or spend a night in a dump. As reported abc

Another example of a Ciconetti ruling in defense of an animal occurred in 2015, when a man who shot a dog was sentenced to donating street puppy food for a year.

Cicconetti always follows the law and does not impose unfounded punishments. But he has invented a great way to give animal abusers a dose of their own medicine. Judge Michael Cicconetti presided over the municipal court in Painesville, Lake County, Ohio, United States, from 1994 until his retirement in 2019.

A lifelong member of the Democratic Party, he switched to the Republican Party so he could vote for his son, Gabe, who ran for Lake County chancellor in 2020. Michael said he didn’t regret the choice, according to Daily mail .