BEST VILLAIN - 2007
Kimanie Carter
Readers' Choice: Tim Pawlenty
Thanks to the polarized nature of these times, there are few matters of morality about which we all agree. Precious few. For this reason (and no other), we owe a debt to 20-year-old Kimanie Carter of St. Paul. Carter's name may not ring a bell, but his deed probably does. Remember last summer when the story broke about some miscreant snapping the necks of 10 puppies and then throwing the lifeless bodies into a trash bin? Carter is that fellow. Despite plenty of media coverage, it was never entirely clear why Carter felt the compulsion to do what he did. Some accounts suggested he was expecting purebred pit bulls and was angry to see they were mutts. Other stories said he was trying to intimidate his girlfriend into giving him a ride. In the end, Ramsey County Judge William Leary III sentenced Carter to nine and a half months in the workhouse—a very stiff sentence by the standards of animal-cruelty cases—and ordered a psychiatric evaluation. Perhaps the latter will provide some clues as to why Carter is such a nasty piece of work.
