A man convicted of stealing a cat from the Richmond SPCA dropped his appeal yesterday, but it ended up costing him -- and others.

Carlos Marshall -- who was convicted in Richmond General District Court in March of misdemeanor larceny and failure to appear and was ordered to serve six days in jail, pay a $250 fine and perform 100 hours of community service -- had been scheduled for a 2 p.m. trial yesterday in Richmond Circuit Court.

At 2:30, Marshall, dressed in tan shorts and a brown golf shirt, walked into Judge Theodore J. Markow's courtroom. It was learned that Marshall had called a new lawyer Tuesday and asked to drop his appeal. The paperwork had been filed shortly before Alex Taylor, the prosecutor, walked into court yesterday, prepared to try the case a second time.

"I have six witnesses here waiting to testify because he appealed his conviction and sentence -- which was very lenient to begin with," Taylor told the judge, shaking his head.

He asked Markow to order Marshall to pay all costs associated with dropping the appeal at such a late date.

"Whatever [the costs] are, they will be assessed against you," the judge told Marshall.

The judge had more bad news for Marshall: A previous understanding that he be allowed to serve his six days in jail on weekends was never entered into his case file, so that option is no longer available.

Outside the courtroom, Taylor said he was particularly upset that the appeal was dropped too late for him to notify the witnesses who had been lined up to testify, many of whom left their jobs to do so. That list included Dr. Angela Ivey, the Richmond SPCA's director of veterinary services, who had postponed several surgeries to be in court.

"But if there is a lesson to be learned from all this," Taylor said, "it's that any theft that occurs at this wonderful facility will be prosecuted -- as many times as it takes."

Marshall, who has a felony record that includes larceny and breaking-and-entering convictions dating to 1989, was convicted for stealing a kitten named Ernie from the SPCA on Aug. 24.

The cat was recovered, but his theft prompted legislation at this year's General Assembly to make it a felony in Virginia to steal cats, just as it is for stealing dogs and dozens of other animals. Although the legislation died in committee, proponents have vowed to resurrect it next year.

At his trial in General District Court, Marshall got far less than the maximum penalty on the misdemeanor theft charge, which is one year in jail and a $1,000 fine. The judge expressed reluctance about a lengthy jail term on a misdemeanor for a defendant who said he was making support payments for two children.
Contact Joe Macenka at (804) 649-6804 or jmacenka@timesdispatch.com.