Six dogs are dead and five more are recovering from serious burns after a house fire in Geneva, Florida, that investigators say was set on purpose. Authorities allege that Terrance Fredrick Banks, 40, poured gasoline inside his Snow Hill Road home on Monday, September 28, and lit it with dogs still inside. Some of them were shut in crates with no way out.

Five dogs were found dead near the front of the house. A sixth made it outside but died on the lawn. Animal control officers pulled four survivors from the scene, and a neighbor found a fifth. All five needed emergency veterinary care for burns, smoke inhalation, and other injuries.

Banks now faces one count of second-degree arson and 11 counts of aggravated animal cruelty. The full toll may be even higher. Banks told investigators 19 dogs had been in the home, but only 11 had been found by the time the arrest report was filed. The State Fire Marshal's investigation is still open.

These dogs depended completely on the person responsible for their care. They deserve a serious response from the justice system.

The Office of the State Attorney for Florida's 18th Judicial Circuit, which prosecutes cases in Seminole County, has the power to make that happen. Prosecutors should pursue every animal cruelty charge to the fullest extent of the law, file additional charges if more dogs are found to have been harmed, and ask the court for a lifetime ban on owning or living with animals if Banks is convicted. Strong release conditions, including the GPS monitoring requested by the Seminole County Sheriff's Office, should stay in place while the case moves forward.

Banks has not been convicted, and the case will be decided in court. But every dog in that house counts.

Sign the petition to tell the State Attorney that every dog in this case deserves justice, and that none of these charges should be bargained away.