Attorneys/Judges
| Defense(s): | Walter Gerash | | Judge(s): | Jane Tidball |
CONVICTED: Was justice served?
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Case #14016 Rating: 1.6 out of 5
Dog shot to death
Lakewood, CO (US)Incident Date: Thursday, Jul 3, 2008
County: Jefferson
Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Ryan Hayes
Case Updates: 3 update(s) available
Felony animal cruelty charges are pending against a Lakewood man after a neighbor's dog was found shot to death in the man's bedroom.
"It's just not right, not fair," said Marlys Duggan during a sometimes tearful interview with CBS4.
Duggan owned the Russell Terrier Mix that was killed in her neighbor's bedroom on Thursday.
Ryan Hayes was arrested and faces charges of reckless behavior and possession of a firearm while under the influence, in addition to an animal cruelty charge. All three charges are felonies.
According to police, Marlys Duggan had taken her dog to visit Hayes' mother in the 1300 block of Otis on Thursday night.
The 49-year-old son was also in the home.
Hayes was familiar and friendly with Patches, until he went to his bedroom to take a shower and the dog allegedly followed him.
There was then reportedly a gunshot blast. Duggan ran into the room to find Patches dead, with the dog's head lying in a pool of blood.
"It's like Jekyl and Hyde," said Duggan. "Why all of a sudden would you deliberately kill a dog?"
Police say the suspect initially blamed the 10 pound dog. Hayes allegedly claimed the gun was lying on the floor and went off when Patches played with it, but veterinarians consulted on the case told police that's improbable, if not impossible, based on the dog's injury.
When interviewed later by police, Hayes changed his story and was then arrested.
Police say the motive for the shooting remains a mystery.
Animal cruelty cases in Lakewood rarely rise to this level, according to Al Padilla, spokesman for Lakewood Police Department.
"One of this nature certainly is a major incident," Padilla said.
Case UpdatesA Lakewood man was given community service and probation for shooting his neighbors Jack Russell Terrier, authorities said Monday.
Ryan Cullen Hayes, 51, was found guilty of misdemeanor animal cruelty, two counts of reckless endangerment and one count of prohibited use of a weapon under the influence in February, said Pam Russell of the First Judicial District Attorney's Office.
Russell said Hayes lived with his mother and was drunk on July 3 when his neighbor brought the 18-month-old terrier, Patches, to the house for a visit.
The neighbor, Marlys Duggan, testified that while she was visiting with Hayes and his mother Hayes left to go take a shower and that Patches, who was very fond of Hayes, followed him.
Duggan said that within five minutes she heard the loud boom and ran to the back of the house, to Hayes' room, and found her dog dead.
Duggan immediately took her dog to a critical care veterinarian even though she knew the dog was dead.
She told the vet what Hayes had told her, that the dog was playing with the loaded gun on the floor and it went off.
The veterinarian told Duggan that the injury could not have been self-inflicted and she contacted Lakewood police.
Hayes testified in his own defense and told jurors that the dog was batting his loaded .357-caliber pistol around on the floor when he grabbed the gun and it went off.
Defense attorney Walter Gerash said Hayes was horrified after the shooting, and that Hayes had a tender relationship with the dog.
Prosecutors told the jury that the trajectory of the gunshot wasn't consistent with the .357 magnum going off accidentally. They said that it was consistent with Hayes standing over the dog and firing downward into his snout and into his chest.
Hayes will serve eight years probation and 100 hours of community service, enroll anger management classes and undergo a substance abuse evaluation and treatment as a condition of probation, Russell said. | Source: The Denver Channel - April 27, 2008
Update posted on Apr 28, 2009 - 1:01AM |
A Jefferson County jury quickly convicted a Lakewood man today for shooting and killing a neighbor's dog.
Ryan Hayes, 49, was found guilty of four misdemeanors: aggravated animal cruelty, possession of a weapon while intoxicated and two counts of reckless endangerment. The jury rejected a felony charge of aggravated animal cruelty.
Hayes took the stand to tell jurors that he was attempting to avoid an accident when he grabbed the loaded .357-caliber Magnum pistol away from Patches, a Jack Russell terrier mix owned by Marlys Duggan who lived across the street.
Hayes faces a jail term when he is sentenced in April. District Court Judge Jane Tidball ordered a mental health evaluation of Hayes. | Source: DenverPost.Com - Feb 19, 2009
Update posted on Feb 19, 2009 - 10:14PM |
A man who allegedly shot and killed a small dog told police that the terrier shot itself while playing with his pistol.
Ryan Hayes was arrested last week on charges of possessing a weapon while under the influence, animal cruelty and reckless endangerment.
Lakewood police said Hayes, 49, shot the Jack Russell mix in the head.
Marlys Duggan told the Denver Post she is the owner of the dog, called Patches, and she was visiting Hayes when the dog was shot.
He is "my across-the-street neighbor. I usually go over three or four times a week to visit," Duggan told the Post.
Hayes seemed to like the Patches, Duggan said. On the day of the shooting he had been drinking, she said.
Duggan said Hayes stopped at the refrigerator for another beer before going to his room with Patches in tow.
"The next thing I knew, I heard this loud explosion," Duggan said. "I thought it was a transformer blowing."
She walked into the room and found the dog's body.
"Ryan said, 'I didn't do it. The gun was on the floor, he was playing with it,'" Duggan told the Post.
A veterinarian told Duggan that the injury could not have been self-inflicted. That's when she called police.
"[The vet] showed me the body of the dog and stated the gunshot would appeared to have entered the right side of the dog's face in a downward motion, tearing through its jaw. It had been shot through the head from above," a police report of the incident stated.
When police questioned Hayes, he admitted he shot the dog and claimed it was all an accident, police said.
"Hayes stated he picked the gun up and 'palmed it,' with his finger on the trigger. Mr. Hayes said he then turned to his right and the gun went off, which is how the dog got shot," according to the report.
Duggan told the Post she will probably get another dog eventually.
"I still can't believe this would ever happen to a dog of mine," she told the Post. "Ryan totally betrayed the trust my dog had in him." | Source: The Denver Channel - July 7, 2008
Update posted on Jul 8, 2008 - 12:53AM |
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