Abrams is charged with two misdemeanors, animal cruelty and unlawful confinement of an animal. Each charge carries a maximum penalty of up to a year in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Her attorney, Andrew Stine of West Palm Beach, said in an interview Tuesday that there are circumstances that he thinks might temper the outrage. He would not provide specifics but hinted at economic hardship. He said he and Abrams have received hate mail and threatening phone calls.

As Abrams left the courthouse with her face covered, several protesters stood outside the main entrance, holding signs that read "Voices for Ella" and "No Plea Deals for Animal Abusers."

Nick Stack, 26, of Merritt Island was among them.

"It's absolutely horrible," said Stack, who has three dogs. "I'd like to see it go to a jury and let a jury decide what should happen to her."

The feelings are understandable, said Melinda Merck, senior director of veterinary forensic sciences for the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.

"Animals give us unconditional love that we don't experience with humans," she said. "Even when they are abused and neglected, animals still love you no matter what. That's what cuts people to the core."

Authorities think Ella had been left alone for about two months before neighbors noticed a foul odor, peered through a window of the Cocoa home and saw the dog dead in the crate, a closed bag of dog food 5 feet away.

Police initially feared that something happened to Abrams.

"It never occurred to them that someone would intentionally do this," said Barbara Matthews, spokeswoman for the Cocoa Police Department. Neighbors had told police Abrams was a caring pet owner who walked and played with Ella.

When officers found Abrams five hours later and about six miles away, she told them she had moved in with a male friend in January and left Ella behind because he didn't like dogs, Matthews said.

During their investigation, police also learned that Ella's right leg had been amputated on Nov. 6, 2007. Abrams told a veterinarian that she had come home after a night out to find the dog's leash wound tightly around its swollen limb, according to court records. More recently, police reports indicate that the water service had been turned off and that Abrams might have been facing foreclosure on the house when she left in January.

Stine said Abrams didn't take Ella to a nearby animal shelter because "circumstances did not allow for that."

Animal lovers are angry at the State Attorney's Office for reducing Abrams' charge from a felony to a first-degree misdemeanor.

"In my opinion, all animal abuse should be a felony," Brevard Assistant State Attorney Wayne Holmes said. "But deprivation of food and water is a misdemeanor under that statute."

He said prosecutors would have to prove exactly how Ella died to make it a felony. By the time she was found, her body had mummified, making a necropsy impossible, he said.

"We contacted 10 different experts in veterinary medicine, pathology and mummification," he said. "Nobody could do it."

He said it's not the first time the Brevard office has been peppered with letters about an animal-abuse case.

After nearly 18 years, Holmes still remembers Jingles, a 13-year-old black Labrador, arthritic and losing its sight and hearing. Road-crew workers bashed in its head with a shovel as it staggered toward them, later saying they thought it was rabid. More than 900 people wrote expressing outrage and urged prosecutors to file charges, he said.

He remembers that, Holmes added, because a baby died from abuse the same day in the same town, but he received no letters about that.

"Animals don't have a voice," explained Joy Dias, a grief counselor at the University of Florida Veterinary Medical Center. "With child abuse, everybody knows that it's wrong, and everybody feels the same. With animals, there are a whole lot of people who just don't get it."