Maryland Attorney General Douglas Gansler 200 St. Paul Place Baltimore, MD 21202 Attorney General Gansler: We, the undersigned, request the maximum legal sentence be sought in connection with the animal cruelty and animal mutiliation charges filed against Mr. Ethan Weibman. The pending case numbers are 5B02116112 and 1B02113084. We request this for two reasons: 1. Scholarly research has long proven that animal abusers "graduate" to interpersonal violence against individuals. New research also indicates that animal abusers are more likely to commit property, drug and public disorder offenses. If found guilty, Mr. Weibman should be given the maximum allowable sentence to protect the general public. 2. While companion animals continue to be wrongly classified in many jurisdictions as "property", the state of Maryland can and should hold for basic human decency in seeking the maximum sentence for Mr. Weibman if found guilty. Torturing, hurting and mutiliating defenseless animals is not something society can or should support and the maximum sentence, should Mr. Weibman be found guilty, will reverbate throughout the public. We respectfully demand that the maximum sentence be sought in the prospecution of Mr. Weibman. Your attention to this matter is appreciated. Respectfully, The Undersigned