CLEVELAND, Ohio -- A Cleveland man is the first person to be convicted under Ohio's new anti-bestiality laws.

Scott Turner, 48, was sentenced Wednesday to five years of probation. Cleveland Municipal Judge Michelle Earley also ordered him to have no contact with animals and granted the Cleveland Animal Protection League the ability to make random inspections during his probation.

Turner was convicted in March after a one-day bench trial. The judge found him guilty of having sexual contact with an animal, a second-degree misdemeanor, which carries a maximum penalty of 90 days in jail.

Turner, who is a convicted sex offender, was also given credit for seven days served in the city jail before he posted bond. He also served several days in prison for violating the terms of his post-prison release terms for a series of sex offenses in 2003.

The law criminalizing bestiality went into effect March 21, 2017.

Turner's charge, trial and conviction are the first in the state. The APL and their prosecutor said the case highlights the need for the legislation and the need for harsher penalties for the crime.

Turner planned to have sexual contact with a dog, carried out that plan, and made plans to do it again with his romantic partner once his partner was released from prison, prosecutors said. He also made plans to recruit a teenage boy to film the act, a particularly disturbing prospect because Turner has previous convictions involving children, prosecutors said.

Assistant Cuyahoga County Public Defender Jason Haller, however, said the APL's case is weak. He said there was little evidence to support a conviction and that he worried other prosecutions across the state could rely on thin evidence to support convictions under the new law.

Turner denied ever giving the dog, a boxer mix named Athena, oral sex while babysitting her for a friend in May 2017. Haller said Turner plans to appeal the conviction.

'Our four-legged friend'

The case against Turner was built around 58 pages of letters Turner sent to his partner in Clermont County jail on charges of abduction, falsification and other charges.

The letters are written in a stream-of-conscious style that mostly revolves around sexual fantasies that Turner planned for when his partner was released from prison. Parts of the letters also revolve around having children, plans to live together and other anxieties that Turner had while his partner remained incarcerated.

Those letters were screened by Turner's parole officer, who investigated the case. The first letter that mentions using a dog for sex starts with Turner saying he doesn't want to share his partner with another man.

"I'll share you with a 4 legged friend though," the letter says. "I'm really looking forward to experiencing that with you."

Turner then writes about recording their sex together and asks "How would you like to have a young guy (teen) video us together?"

In a letter dated May 6, 2017, Turner wrote: "I'm looking into getting a 4 legged friend still but its hard to find the right one to get and then there's the money needed to get it also which I don't have yet either."

Dog-sitting

On May 13, the girlfriend of Turner's roommate asked him to watch her dog, Athena, while she and her boyfriend went out, according to the letters and APL prosecutor DanaMarie Pannella.

Pannella said that's when Turner gave the dog oral sex. In a letter dated May 13, Turner wrote that his roommate's girlfriend brought her dog over so Turner could watch her while the couple went out to eat.

Turner wrote that he performed oral sex on the dog and indicated that he enjoyed it and wanted to do it again while having sex with his partner. He also describes the dog as a boxer-mix.

Pannella said when the woman picked up her dog, that Turner told her they spent the day in bed. When she got home, the dog acted unusual, she said. Athena constantly licked herself, was scared of human contact and barked constantly for no apparent reason, Pannella said.

The dog's owner was bewildered at the sudden change in behavior, Pannella said. The woman worried about her dog so much, she canceled dinner plans that night to tend to her, Pannella said.

Two days later, Turner again wrote his partner again. He wrote about how he enjoyed his partner talking about the sex that two fantasized about having with dogs.

Turner denies sex act

Haller said that Turner denied the sex act ever occurred. Attempts to reach Turner were not successful.

Haller said that the letter did not indicate that he actually performed the sex act on the dog. Rather, Turner was writing to his partner regarding fantasies his partner had in order to keep him occupied while jailed.

"Essentially, he admits to writing in a letter about committing the act, but when confronted, he gave an explanation that it was just rambling fantasy language," Haller said. "But maintains it never happened. There was little or no evidence that it occurred."

The defense attorney said the only other testimony offered at trial was the dog owner, who testified that the dog had acted differently after the day with the Turner.

Haller argued in court records against prosecutors presenting testimony from a veterinarian who would have testified that dogs can show signs of abuse. Haller argued that the prosecutors could not back the testimony with scientific proof. Prosecutors voluntarily withdrew the witness before Earley could rule on the arguments and the vet did not testify during the trial.

Haller said prosecutors presented no physical evidence and convicted him solely on the letters and his admission to writing them. He expects they will appeal the conviction to the Ohio Eighth District Court of Appeals.

"It is a poor test case going forward and I hope it's not used going forward with cases with similar evidence," Haller said.

'A class-A predator'

Pannella and Cleveland APL President Sharon Harvey disagree. They think it's the ideal test case because the evidence they presented as well as Turner's history of sex offenses.

Anti-animal abuse advocates have long linked animal abuse to human abuse, Harvey said.

"This is particularly important," Harvey said. "This is a horrific act against an animal. But people like this pose an increased threat to society in general, to other people and to children. And that needs to be addressed under the law."

Pannella said Turner's prior criminal history mirrors in many ways his current conviction.

In the three sex crimes convictions, Turner was babysitting when he sexually abused children.

Turner on July 25, 2003 babysat five boys between the ages of 6 and 12 when he paid a 9-year-old boy $1 to fondle another boy while he watched. Police investigated the case and later learned that he had also performed a sex act on a 9-year-old boy while they watched a pornographic video in 2002, according to court records.

Investigators also found that Turner repeatedly sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl and had attacked her as many as 10 times.

Those cases, Pannella said, show Turner is a sexual predator who preys on children and animals alike. He is currently working as a plumber, Pannella said.

"He's a class-A predator," Pannella said. "There's a pattern here."

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