We are not a judge. We are not a jury. We are human and consider ourselves compassionate, possibly to a fault.

Monday, we saw pictures. Tuesday, we took pictures. Both days left us feeling a little less positive about human kind.

Monday, we talked to our sources. Tuesday, we talked to more of our sources. Again, we were left feeling a little less positive about human kind.

Calvin Jerome Champion has not been tried and while we don’t doubt our law enforcement sources, we can only naively hope may be those 30 pit bulls on his property were not his.

What was done to these dogs is something no animal or human should have to suffer: A dead puppy callously thrown on top of a kennel, a mother chewing a chain link fence to try to get to her puppies. Bones were showing through skin.

Then there were other cruel signs, signs of fighting, signs of battle scars, signs no one should be proud of, signs that left Michael Vick serving time and, mostly, a despised man.

Throughout the criminal process in this matter we are going to show these pictures. We have put them in our standing art file.

What we saw Tuesday at the Halifax County Animal Shelter was pain. What we saw was lost hope, perhaps frustration that a human supposedly their master put these dogs through hell and for what? Gambling money? Self satisfaction? A need to fuel a weakened machismo?

Look into the eyes of these dogs and you don’t see happiness, you don’t see tranquility, you don’t see peace. You see hurt, you see loneliness, you see confusion.

These are not bad dogs. They came to us in their pens. They longed to be petted and rubbed, loved and told they are special. The problem is, these dogs have been jaded, not by themselves, but by greedy owners who wouldn’t dare fight like that themselves, but would rather duke it out with gunfire or gang up on a weak person with their boys.

People who do this to dogs are weak themselves, they are making up for shortcomings within their own psyche that only years of therapy can discover and heal.

All this is being written so for one day we can play legal advisor. So we can tell the district attorney’s office this case should be prosecuted with the passion of a sensitive murder case. This case should be prosecuted so everyone knows Halifax County doesn’t tolerate this treatment to animals or humans.

If it is a plea, then tough sanctions should be attached. No more dogs for the guilty, a lifetime of community work where the guilty must work to fight against dogfighting. The guilty should have to work in an animal shelter beyond whatever community work is done. The sentence in this case should be harsh to where the guilty will regret every step taken to breed these dogs for fighting when, we believe, all they wanted to do was romp and play.

The guilty should have to help in euthanizing his own dogs because, unfortunately, that’s what will likely happen to them. That may be the look we saw in their eyes Tuesday, animals who know, either way, they are facing a death sentence — Editor.