Outcome of Phil Savelli's Sentencing

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Sentencing

What happened in court:

• Attendance was limited, so Helga (Coco's mom) was only permitted to bring one person to the sentencing.

• Prosecution went first and spoke about all of the letters submitted, petition signatures gathered, emphasized why harsh punishment was warranted in this situation and showed a five minute clip of surveillance video.

• Helga read her impact statement to the judge (click to read)

• Phil's lawyer then attempted to convince the judge that Phil is a good person and shouldn't be characterized by a moment in time (cue eye roll...)

• Phil then read a very awkward, insincere apology. You could feel the collective confusion in the courtroom as everyone wondered why he thought it was a good idea to say the things that he did.(Go to minute 1:48 in this video)

• The judge then proceeded to announce his sentence.

Helga and I were so nervous that we were clenching each others hands and trying to catch every word that came from the judge's mouth. We had worked so hard to get to this point. We had come down to the final sprint of a nine month marathon.

We barely slept the week before sentencing because we were scrambling to make sure we had everything ready. We spent countless nights sitting in my office, eating sushi while working the emotionally draining tasks of writing her speech and putting together the video to be shown in court. I can't express how it feels to sift through two hours of video to find the moments and the cries that came from Coco during the last hour of her life that are worthy enough to show. I wouldn't wish this task on anyone.

Here is what the judge decided:

• Despite Phil's attorney asking for Phil's three felonies to be consolidated into one count, the judge ruled to keep them as three separate charges

• Three years of probation

  • Mandatory monthly check-ins

  • Random drug and alcohol testing (docket says only drug but judge said drug and alcohol - still waiting on court to provide clarification)

  • If any violation of probation occurs, Phil will be sent to prison for three years

• Psychiatric counseling (another item that doesn't the docket that I am waiting on clarification for)

• Phil being added to the Cuyahoga County Animal Abuse Registry (click here to see the list)

• Prohibited from owning or caring for companion animals indefinitely

• Prohibited from having contact with Helga or her family

• 60 days in jail

When the judge started with the three years of probation, Helga and I immediately prepared ourselves for disappointment. However, I cannot describe the feeling we had as we watched Phil get handcuffed and taken away. We instantly started crying tears of joy. Our nine months of hard work paid off to hold that monster accountable and get a small amount of justice for sweet Coco.

Click here to watch the entire sentencing

!! Very disturbing content warning for the video below !!

Click here to watch the video shown in court

How We Made A Difference

I know that you are all furious that he only got 60 days in jail. You may be wondering why Goddard's Law wasn't applied.

Please hear me when I say that this is the best sentence we could get given current legislation and the sentencing restrictions. Here is why:

• Phil had no priors on his record. This usually means an assumption of probation with felony 5 charges. Almost every other animal abuser in this situation has only gotten probation.

• The language of the law does not allow for this case to be eligible for a prison sentence (a state or federal facility). It only allows for a jail sentence (a smaller, local facility).

• Due to a combination of sentencing restrictions, Goddard's law not classifying animal abuse as a violent offense and Phil having no prior record, the judge was ONLY allowed to give him 60 days in jail.

While preparing for this journey, I met and spoke with more experts in this field than I can count. None of the people in this field, not even lawyers for the APL that ONLY prosecute animal cruelty cases, thought he would get more than 2-3 days MAX.

However, due to our unrelenting efforts of sharing the petition, having protests, sharing Coco's story and submitting letters to the judge, we were able to raise enough awareness to create one of the highest profile animal abuse cases the court has seen.

We were also able to get one of the longest jail sentences the court has seen for comparable animal cruelty cases, and it was the largest sentence our assistant prosecutor had seen in her long career at the Cuyahoga County Courthouse. Other than the jail time, we got everything else we were asking for.

Does this punishment fit the crime and atone for what Coco went through? Absolutely not.

Did our efforts make an impact on getting Phil Savelli a harsher sentence? Absolutely YES.

Click here to watch a video explaining the sentencing, motives and other answers to common questions about the case.

Helga and I are so grateful for all of you. Coco touched the hearts of people in 158 countries. However, our work is not done.

Next Steps

Make sure Phil does NOT get an early release

We need to ensure Phil does not file for an early release (it's not uncommon). If he tries, we can take action, but we must be diligent about keeping an eye on the docket for any filings or scheduled hearings. You can click here to access the website containing the docket. To search, click "Agree" and then do a criminal search by name (Phillip Savelli).

Pass Senate Bill 164

If you've made it this far in the post, you know there are some items that need to be fixed to make Goddard's Law more effective. Our best chance at this is passing Senate Bill 164. The last time a similar bill was introduced, the legislative system let it die before it could get passed.

I am currently working on coming up with a plan for how we can best influence the passage of this bill collectively, but, in the meantime, here is an article that has some actions you can take right now.

Also, click here for a quick summary of what changes SB 164 would make to existing law.

Expand the animal abuse registry

Ultimately, it would be amazing to create a national animal abuse registry. The current Cuyahoga Animal Abuse Registry is a start, but it needs to start being added to and expanded. I will be working with the prosecutor to try and get this accomplished.

We CAN Make Change

Just as we were able to impact Coco's case, we can also drive change to prevent the suffering of innocent animals at the hands of people like Phil Savelli.

If you would like to be a part of our efforts to make change in Coco's memory, please either join the Justice For Coco Facebook group or , subscribe to this website or join the Activists for Coco group on this site.

Again, we could not have achieved this without you. Although it does not make up for what Coco endured, please try to consider this a small win in a much bigger battle. We were able to work together to get some #JusticeForCoco <3