BATON ROUGE - Animal activists protested Friday in front of the East Baton Rouge Juvenile Court facility against a judge who did not sign a warrant for the arrest of a suspected teenage animal abuser.

Juvenile court Judge Pamela Johnson refused to sign the arrest warrant.

Laura Russo and other protesters spent part of the afternoon holding up images of the teen accused of animal cruelty, wanting to see repercussions for his actions.

The video, that has grown viral, shows a teenager swinging two dogs by their leashes and releasing them into the air.

"She does not represent the Justice System as it should be and as it exists and the only voice we have is to do things like this. We have no other way," said protester Cathy Breaux.
     
After the video received so much attention, sheriff's deputies from both Iberville and East Baton Rouge Parish got involved. Deputies identified the teen, and took the case juvenile court for charges.

The group hopes to send a message for someone to take this case and other future animal cruelty cases seriously.

"We want to stop animal cruelty and we can't do that without the help of judges, lawyers, and new laws being made," said Russo.

We reached out to the juvenile court system and District's Attorney's office, and they cannot comment on juvenile cases.