It took jurors less than 2 hours to convict Bessigano, of 2 misdemeanors and a felony in the death of a Rottweiler.�� He was also convicted of treaspassing and animal cruelty.
Bessigano, unchained the 120 pound Rottweiler, known as Khan from a barn on the C-J Ranch near his home, to a field and killing it by breaking its neck.� The dog was found dead the next morning some 2000 feet from the barn.� Investigators, who knoew of Bessigano's prior animal problems, went to his home to talk to him, then took him into the police station, where he admitted taking the dog.
Bessigano's lawyer, Garry Weiss, hopes Lake Superior Court Judge Bernard Carter will allow an alternative to imprisonment.� Carter is going to ask the court to sentence him to some kind of treatment program.
Bessigano was on probation for trespassing onto a farmer's land and killing a rooster when he was taken into custody and held for the past 7 months.� He will remain in custody pending his sentencing hearing on March 11, 1993.
Other evidence introduced at the trial had Bessigano entering a goose pen of anothe rlocal farmer with the intent to molest the geese.� Bessigano admitted breaking the neck of the geese, after having difficulty molesting the bird.
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