Lowanda “Peanut” Kilby is back behind bars at Pulaski State Prison, and will remain there for the full term of her original sentence following the denial of her sentencing appeal.
Kilby, who is serving a 25-year sentence on theft and racketeering charges – 15 of them to be spent incarcerated at a state prison, with another 10 on probation – filed an appeal, calling the sentence unfair and claiming undue media influence.
The case, originally brought to light by an undercover investigation by an Atlanta television news station, involved the Lucky Dog program at the Boggs Mountain Animal Shelter in Rabun County where Kilby was director. The no-kill shelter – which has since closed – served people throughout the region, including Habersham County.
Jurors, on May 22, found Kilby guilty on one Georgia Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Orgainzaitons Act (RICO) violation as well as 30 counts of theft by deception and 29 counts of computer theft. Evidence during the two-week trail showed that Kilby had diverted more than $10,000 in donations to the shelter into her personal account and used the money to fund personal gambling trips to the Cherokee Casino. The donations were part of the Lucky Dog program, which claimed to ensure the safety and adoption of sponsored animals. More than 25 animals were euthanized despite donations of at least $100 being made to sponsor them under the Lucky Dog/Cat program.
Kilby’s sentencing appeal, filed by attorney Tim Healy, who served as Kilby’s attorney during the initial trail, claimed Mountain Judicial Circuit Judge Russell “Rusty” Smith was influenced by “unrelenting, unprecedented media coverage” when he determined Kilby’s sentence. The appeal also claimed that Kilby’s sentence was considerably higher than sentences imposed for similar charges in other cases.
According to Georgia Department of Records statistics, the average sentence for racketeering is 5.6 years confinement, while 3.5 years is the average incarceration time for a theft by taking conviction and 3.2 years for a theft by deception conviction, Healy claims.
During Tuesday’s hearing, Healy placed responsibility for the community’s outrage squarely on the shoulders of the media.
“The entire community was affected by this because of Channel 5 News,” Healy said, adding that more than 500 residents had signed a petition supporting a reduction in Kilby’s sentence. Members of Kilby’s family, as well as several friends, also attended the appeal hearing to express their support of Killby.
“All of that would be much more important and persuasive if she (Kilby) had taken responsibility,” Smith said before denying the sentence reduction request, “but it does make this situation all the more tragic,” he added.
“They (Kilby’s defense) claims it was because the media followed this case that it generated all the publicity and pressure – our argument was that that is not true,” Mountain Judicial Circuit District Attorney Brian Rickman says. “If this was just a regular case, the media would have run a story on it, and if the public wasn’t interested, they wouldn’t have covered it any more. Media doesn’t cause public attention, media follows public attention.”
Kilby’s request for a reduction in her sentence came just days after Healy, on Kilby’s behalf, filed an amended request for new trial.
“The trial court erred in denying defendant’s motion to suppress defendant’s bank records and records of her transactions at Harrah’s Casino that were obtained by the state pursuant to subpoena without notice to the defendant,” states the motion, filed by Healy on Oct. 6.
The motion also asserts that “the state failed to produce any evidence to establish that defendant obtained $1,500 or more in funds as alleged in count 1,” and that “the state failed to establish that Rabun County was the proper venue for the offenses contained in counts 2-60.”
The original motion for retrial, filed June 25, identified three grounds for the appeal:
* The verdict is contrary to evidence and without evidence to support it.
* The verdict is decidedly and strongly against the weight of the evidence.
* The verdict is contrary to law and the principles of justice and equity.
Smith, as of Thursday afternoon, Oct. 16, had made no ruling on the request for a new trial.
