Dog beaten to death with stick, skull caved in - Roanoke, VA

Wednesday, Jun 11, 2008

County: Roanoke City

Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Alleged

Alleged: Daniel Alexander Perry

Scott Rayfield's companion for 14 years, even the years he spent sleeping on Roanoke's streets, was a small dog with curly white fur named Pookie.

Rayfield and his dog had settled into a home on Chapman Avenue. But in June, his beloved mutt disappeared from his yard. Rayfield posted numerous fliers asking for help finding Pookie, who he says was deaf, blind and toothless.

But when a Roanoke animal control officer contacted him, it was to tell him his dog had been killed.

Wednesday in Roanoke General District Court, a judge certified a felony animal cruelty charge against Daniel Alexander Perry to a grand jury, which will decide whether Perry should face a trial in circuit court.

In July 2002, Virginia lawmakers passed the "T-Bone" bill, which made the abuse of a dog or cat that causes its death a felony punishable by up to five years in prison. Perry is the latest of a mere handful of defendants in Roanoke charged under that law; city police have charged fewer than five people since the law took effect, spokeswoman Aisha Johnson said.

Perry, 22, maintains that when he encountered Rayfield's dog in an alley beside RAM House on Campbell Avenue, the dog snapped at him and tried to attack him. "What if I was walking with my daughter?" he said.

The man who witnessed the killing, Derek Cooper, said outside court Wednesday that he didn't believe Perry's story. "How are you going to get a deaf, blind dog to attack somebody?" he said. "How does he know you're there?"

Cooper testified that when he came home the evening of June 18, he heard his own dogs barking. He peered over his fence to see a tall, shirtless man repeatedly beating a small dog with a stick as the dog lay on the ground, twitching her tail.

When the man noticed he had been seen, he said the dog had attacked him and then walked off with two other men who had been watching, Cooper said.

Cooper called police. Based on his description, Officer C.B. Tinsley said he suspected Perry, whom he'd seen nearby earlier in the day.

On July 11, while in jail on an unrelated charge, Perry told an investigator that the dog had charged at him. At first he threw rocks at the dog, but when she kept coming at him he grabbed a stick and hit her, according to evidence.

Barry Dawkins, director of a state animal health lab, testified that Pookie had severe bruising along her back and her skull had been caved in.

Roanoke Public Defender John Varney asked Dawkins whether Pookie could have been rabid. Dawkins said he could not reliably test for diseases because of the condition of the dog's body.

Although Varney argued that the charge should be dismissed because Perry had a right to defend himself, Judge Chris Clemens chose to certify the charge to the grand jury.

Rayfield said after the hearing that Pookie's shots were up to date and that she was wearing a Roanoke dog tag when she was killed.

"I'm still upset," he said. "Physically I'm trying to be here. Mentally, my thoughts are racing. ... I still have nightmares about it."

Rayfield said he'd owned the dog since she was a puppy. She was with him when he worked as a bricklayer and with him for the years he spent living on the streets after a nervous breakdown.

He recalls scavenging for food at night for his dog and himself after restaurants closed.

A couple of years ago, Rayfield moved into a house on Chapman Avenue. Pookie would spend time in the fenced-in back yard.

Rayfield believes his old dog could not have gotten out of the yard on her own. Perry is not accused of any involvement in her disappearance.

Outside the courthouse, Rayfield grew misty-eyed when he saw a man walking with a dog that reminded him of Pookie. "Whenever I see a dog like her, I break down into tears," he said.

References

• Roanoke.Com - Sept 25, 2008

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