Golden – A mother of five who directed a family friend to drown two cats in the bathtub while her children were present was sentenced today to 45 days in jail.
Delene Madison Hart, 39, was convicted in June of two counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, contributing to the delinquency of a minor and negligent child abuse.
Hart told investigators that she was frustrated with the cats – Georgia and Jackson – who had been urinating in the family’s south Jefferson County home, according to court records.
Hart said she tried to take the cats to a shelter but couldn’t afford the donation fee. She came home from work on Oct. 18, 2005, and told her children: “Let’s drown them,” court records state.
Hart then told Kyle Bundy, 19, and her children to fill the bathtub, put one cat in a bedroom closet and then drown the cats one at a time, documents state. She then returned to work.
Two of her children – a 10-year-old son and a 14-year-old son – witnessed the drownings. The cats’ bodies were found two days later in the garage stuffed in trash bags.
Hart begged Jefferson County District Court Judge Lily Oeffler today to not to send her jail after Oeffler passed sentence.
“I didn’t tell them to do it,” Hart said, sobbing. “I won’t own another cat as long as I live. I’m very sorry. It will never happen again.
“I’m a very good mother. My kids love me so much. My baby needs me,” said Hart, whose children range in age from 18 months to 16 years.
Oeffler stood by her sentence, which also includes three years of probation, mental health counseling, animal cruelty education and 120 hours of community service, preferably at an animal shelter “if one will agree to take you.”
Oeffler said she considered a 90-day jail sentence but was swayed by the prosecution’s request for a 45-day sentence.
“These were family pets and the kids loved them,” Oeffler told Hart. “It is truly troubling that you knew the kids were there and participating … This was cruelty both to the animals and to the children.”
Immediately after the sentence – which she will begin serving on Monday – deputies were called to subdue Hart when she caused a disturbance in a conference room next to the courtroom.
Prosecutor Bob Weiner said Hart got her kids “to do her dirty work” by killing the animals “in a cruel manner” with the cats vomiting, clawing at a box used to submerge them in the tub “and struggling for their lives.”
Hart’s attorney, Stephen Cook, said he was blindsided by the jail sentence since the district attorney’s office indicated it would seek community service and probation.
“A jail sentence was not appropriate,” Cook said. “This was a misguided course of action initiated by Ms. Hart … This was a snap decision.”
Oeffler told Hart, “I understand you snapped that day, and people can just snap. This was too extreme.”
Bundy pleaded guilty to misdemeanor cruelty to animals in November and was sentenced to one year’s probation with a mental health evaluation and 24 hours of community service.
Staff writer Ann Schrader can be reached at 303-278-3217 or aschrader@denverpost.com.
