http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/2011/09/23/2011-09-23_bitter_exhusband_stuffed_raw_chicken_into_air_vents_of_exwifes_house_ruined_hard.html

 

Bitter ex-husband stuffed raw chicken into air vents of ex-wife's house, ruined hardwood floors

She got the house and the grand piano, and he got convicted for vandalizing both.

A bitter Colorado divorce case ended with a kooky statehouse lobbyist facing 18 years behind bars for a ruinous rampage through his estranged wife's home.

Ronald Smith, 58, of Denver, was found guilty of stuffing raw chicken into the air vents of his now ex-wife's house, pouring bleach into her grand piano and targeting other objects of sentimental value.

He also donned a pair of cleated mountain boots and stomped across the home's new hardwood floors.

Smith was arrested for breaking into Michelle Young's residence to inflict thousands of dollars in damages as the couple's contentious divorce wrapped up in September 2010.

A Colorado jury, after a two-week trial, convicted him of second-degree burglary and criminal mischief following six hours of deliberations.

According to prosecutors, Smith began harassing his estranged spouse when the divorce papers were filed in 2009.

He reportedly sent threatening text messages and e-mail, warning that he would leave Young "penniless."

"If I have to ruin my life to ruin yours, I will do that," Smith wrote in one.

Young later told police she caught her ex-husband peering through her bedroom window, and that he left a note on her backdoor declaring that she had recently died.

Jurors rejected the defense argument that Young caused all the damage herself - and then blamed her husband in an act of revenge.