BURNETT - More misdeeds from the road rage guy

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http://www.boston.com/dailynews/204/nation/California_man_convicted_in_ro:.shtml

California man convicted in road-rage death of dog found guilty of destroying van

By Brian Bergstein, Associated Press, 7/23/2001 23:35

SAN JOSE, Calif. (AP) A man who threw a dog to its death in a fit of road rage was convicted Monday of stealing tools from his telephone repair van and pushing the vehicle off a cliff to cover up the crime.

A jury took about an hour to convict Andrew Burnett, 28, of theft, vandalism and lying to police. He could receive more than two years in prison at his Sept. 21 sentencing.

Burnett was sentenced earlier this month to three years behind bars in the death of a bichon frise whose owner had tapped Burnett's bumper in rainy-day traffic. Burnett threw the little dog into traffic before driving off.

For months, animal lovers demanded police find the animal's killer. The van's destruction eventually led police to name Burnett as the one to blame for the dog's demise.

Burnett, a former telephone line repairman, was accused of stealing $30,000 worth of equipment from his van and pushing it over a 400-foot cliff about 15 miles south of San Francisco in December.

Burnett said the van went off a cliff when he swerved to avoid a deer. He said he survived the plunge along the rocky cliff and awoke on a beach after six or seven hours.

Burnett said he walked at least 10 miles to a commuter train, then found his car and took a road trip. While he was gone, a police detective investigating Burnett's disappearance as a missing-persons case uncovered clues that linked Burnett to Leo's death.

After returning from his road trip, Burnett reported the crash and said it was an accident. He had bandages but no wounds underneath, prosecutor Troy Benson said. Much of the van's equipment was missing from the wreckage.

''This is obviously ridiculous,'' Benson told the jury in closing arguments Monday. ''There is no way the defendant would have lived through the crash as he described it.''

Benson said Burnett wanted to sell the tools to finance a new start with his girlfriend, now his fiancee.

Defense attorney Kevin Hyatt told jurors that while Burnett's tale sounded far-fetched, ''stranger things have happened.''

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2001

Answers

I think we need to hear from the girlfriend, now the ex-fiance.

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2001

Don't you think they should keep him in jail? For his own good, I mean.

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2001

I want some big hulking fella to be his cellmate--someone who sees him and says, "Well, Hel-LO, honey." If he has a cat, that would be even better ;)

-- Anonymous, July 24, 2001

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