Summary

Allexis Ferrell, a 27-year-old Ohio woman, was sentenced to one year in prison for killing and attempting to eat a cat.

The case gained global attention after it was falsely linked to Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, by Donald Trump and JD Vance, despite Ferrell being a U.S. citizen from Canton, 170 miles away.

The baseless claims were widely debunked by authorities.

Ferrell, a mother of three, was found competent to stand trial and requested treatment for substance abuse.

Judge Frank Forchione called the crime “repulsive” and sentenced her to the maximum term.

  • Pumpkin Escobar@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    arrow-up
    44
    arrow-down
    1
    ·
    edit-2
    15 days ago

    Why is the fact that she’s a us citizen in the last paragraph?

    EDIT: I phrased this poorly, I meant, why hold that information back until the last paragraph? That’s sort of the key part of the story.

    • hemmes@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      arrow-up
      25
      arrow-down
      2
      ·
      edit-2
      15 days ago

      Allexis T. Ferrell’s arrest received worldwide attention after it was falsely used as proof of claims by Donald Trump and running mate JD Vance that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were eating their pets.

      Because it was being said that Haitian immigrants were the ones eating cats.

      And this right here is a prime example of what Fox News and Republican sycophants do time and time again because the truth simply won’t work for their agendas. Let’s take a true story that has some legs and twist it the fuck up to really get it moving, but with their exciting new twist on it.

      This right here is what that moron, you republicans voted for, was talking about in his last debate. He rolled with this bullshit, on national television, in full view of the world, and said Haitian immigrants were eating cats because of this story gone game-of-telephone.

      Nice, reeeaaal nice…

      • Pumpkin Escobar@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        arrow-up
        15
        ·
        15 days ago

        Yeah, I phrased that poorly, I was painfully aware of the Haitians eating cats BS, I meant this more like “why wait until the last paragraph to drop that key bit of information?” Clumsy writing / story structure at the very least.

        • hemmes@lemmy.world
          link
          fedilink
          English
          arrow-up
          5
          ·
          15 days ago

          No worries, you’re right. It reads funny at the last sentence just capping the article with that right there. I think they were trying to bring it back to the viral nature of her video

          The video of Ferrell’s arrest was circulated online shortly afterward

          I think this was the main topic they really wanted to highlight.

          but the Canton incident happened approximately 170 miles from Springfield and Ferrell is a U.S. citizen.

          And the abrupt debunking to wrap it up.