California Parolee Sentenced To Ten Years For Sexually Assaulting Chihuahua Puppy

Man who sexually assaulted chihuahua gets 10-years in slammer

December 24, 2011

Not the actual chihuahua


Robert Edward De Shields, a Sacramento parolee convicted of sexually assaulting a chihuahua, was sentenced to 10 years in prison and must now register as a sex offender.

A jury last month convicted De Shields of strangulation and sexual abuse of the 8-month-old chihuahua. He was high on meth at the time of the attack, prosecutors said.

De Shields is confined to a wheelchair and had rented space in a South Sacramento home. When the homeowners came home one day in March, they found De Shields holding the scared dog, prosecutors said. The next day, the dog was missing, but found in the garage with De Shields. The dog was in pain and shock, prosecutors alleged. De Shields insisted the chihuahua had wanted it and had come onto him.

A veterinarian later found severe injuries to the dog's rectum and internal organs. The chihuahua was not required to make an appearance in court, prompting an objection by De Shields' court appointed attorney, citing the right of every defendant to confront his accusers. The lawyer was later assaulted by angry members of PETA outside the courtroom. The lawyer was taken to a local hospital where he required 217 stitches to suture his wounds sustained during the attack. He immediately filed a motion to withdraw as De Shields' attorney, which was denied by the judge.

De Shields has been in and out of prison since 1992. Because of the case's additional requirement that he register as a lifetime sex offender -- unusual for an animal-cruelty case -- he must now serve his sentence in state prison, where he will regularly be sexually assaulted by dog-loving prisoners. Under the state's prison realignment system, he would have otherwise served the time in county jail, where he would have been regularly sexually assaulted, too, the Sacramento County district attorney's office said.

Efforts were underway by PETA and the SPCA to have De Shields confined to the infamous Alcatraz prison in San Francisco Bay, which closed in 1963, was briefly occupied in 1970-71 by a group of American Indians and is now a California State Park and tourist attraction. One million visitors a year who visit the island would be able to boo and throw rocks at De Shields for a fee, providing much needed relief for the state's prison budget.