Press Release: People v. Lovejoy, Collin James, 3/9/10

March 09, 2010
Bradford R. Fenocchio

District Attorney

PLACER COUNTY DISTRICT ATTORNEY

10810 Justice Center Drive, Suite 240
Roseville, California 95678

PRESS RELEASE
For Immediate Release
Date: March 9, 2010

Contact:

Art Campos

Public Information Officer

916-543-8076

Scott Owens

Assistant District Attorney

916-543-8000

MAN WHO SHOT ANIMALS NEAR LINCOLN

GETS SIX YEARS, EIGHT MONTHS IN PRISON

A 20-year-old man’s inability to stay within the law while on probation for a felony conviction of cruelty to animals has caused him to be sent to a state prison for six years and eight months.

Collin James Lovejoy, who received a suspended prison sentence in 2008 for using a rifle to kill and wound pets and farm animals in rural Lincoln, twice violated his probation in drug-related incidents in 2009.

That led Placer County Superior Court Judge Colleen Nichols to send Lovejoy straight to prison last week.

In May 2008, Lovejoy, then 18, pleaded no contest to eight counts of cruelty to animals and Nichols gave him a one-year jail sentence and placed him on formal probation for five years with the understanding that any violation of the probation terms could send him to prison.

Last summer, Lovejoy was stopped by a law enforcement officer who reported finding drug paraphernalia in Lovejoy’s vehicle. In a subsequent court hearing, Lovejoy admitted violating probation.

As he awaited sentencing for the violation, he was arrested again on November 15 for another drug offense. He admitted the violation on January 29 in court.

Prosecutor Jeff Wilson of the Placer County District Attorney’s Office said Lovejoy failed to take advantage of a break given by the judge when she had suspended his prison sentence.

“Judge Nichols gave him a chance in this case, but the defendant proved that he wasn’t worthy of that chance,” Wilson said.