Friday, July 16, 2010
Love for animals and law enforcement combine
Jill Deegan
Priscilla Richardson is columnist The Botetourt View. You can contact her at 981-3430 or via e-mail.
Priscilla Richardson
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You may have heard that Jill Deegan, the assistant Commonwealth's attorney working in Joel Branscom's Fincastle office, won a national award for her work prosecuting animal abuse cases. Not the whole story. Rather, she won three awards, all in 2009. And keeps on with her interest in and caring for animals.
Prosecuting attorneys sometimes try to avoid animal cases. Reasons can include lack of funds for investigation, inexperience, or not enough evidence to support a conviction. But Deegan plunges right in. And after only six years of handling these cases, she's done so well she got an engraved crystal award from the Animal Legal Defense Fund
Her two other awards last year include one from the Virginia Federation of Humane Societies. This award, for excellence in law enforcement, brought her an engraved plaque now hanging on her office wall. The other award, from the National Animal Control Association, commended her for her support of animal control work.
To understand how and why Fincastle's Deegan, 44, could rise to the top of her field requires an understanding of her life. "Growing up I always wanted to be a police officer. I don't know why, it just seemed to be something I was driven to do. I can't explain."
As the daughter of a now deceased Roanoke College English professor, she majored in English in college. Summers saw her working as a lifeguard and softball umpire. Winters, as a basketball referee.
Afer college, she signed up with the Roanoke County sheriff's office. To go into criminal work she attended Salem's law enforcement training academy. "At that time, we were very regional. Had Salem, Botetourt County, Roanoke County, Franklin County, people from the railroad, and Ferrum College."
Deegan then started in uniformed patrol and doing a little undercover work. "We bought crack cocaine in Roanoke County with drug investigations. We worked with informants. They introduce you to people and tell you things."
After five years of that, she decided she wanted a change. The department of corrections had an opening for a probation/parole officer and she got that position.
She did the job for two years and decided to move on, investigating law school. She went to Campbell University in North Carolina, coming home to work summers as a lifeguard at Salem YMCA. "It was something to do and put a little bit of food on the table."
A fresh law degree in 1999 didn't help her right away. "My first job was cleaning kennels at a vet's office in Salem waiting to find out if I passed the bar exam." She opened her own law practice in Salem, defending criminal cases for a few years until this job prosecuting in Botetourt opened up. "When I went to law school I came out thinking I wanted to prosecute." Here in Botetourt, she handles general cases plus whatever animal cases that come along.
Talk about experience needed for this work. "My most memorable case was one where a guy had strangled a puppy. We used veterinarian forensics to prove cause of death and get a felony conviction."
Now living with cats, dogs and goats on four acres near Fincastle, Deegan spreads the word that our animals need lots of fresh water and shade or shelter from the heat. A parked car or truck even with windows open can get hot enough to kill an animal inside.
She considers her "critters" her family. "My mother Eve still lives in Salem, enjoying her grandkids. My sister has four, brother has two. I just have lots of animals."
