In May 2025, two cats were found hanging from power lines on South Ninth Street in Waco, Texas. A mother and her son spotted them while driving and first mistook them for a pair of shoes. An autopsy later showed both cats had been shot in the head before their bodies were tied to a shoe and tossed over the line.

This week, James Cameron Barnes, a 23-year-old former Baylor University student, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of animal cruelty. According to an arrest warrant, he killed the cats with a pellet gun, and he and another person filmed each other trying again and again to throw the bodies onto the wires.

Now Barnes is asking for deferred probation. If Judge Susan Kelly of the 54th State District Court grants it, he could walk away with no felony conviction at all once he finishes probation. Each count carries up to 10 years in prison.

Killing animals and recording it for fun is not a mistake that should disappear from a person’s record. Texas treats this kind of cruelty as a felony for a reason.

More than 18,000 people have already demanded that this case be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law. Judge Kelly now holds the final decision, with sentencing expected in January.

Judge Kelly should deny deferred probation, hand down a sentence that matches the seriousness of these crimes, and bar Barnes from owning or living with animals in the future.

Sign the petition to tell Judge Kelly that these two cats deserve real justice before sentencing day arrives.