Case Details
Share:

Case Snapshot
Case ID: 17335
Classification: Shooting
Animal: dog (non pit-bull)
More cases in Arapahoe County, CO
More cases in CO
Animal was offleash or loose
« Back to Search Results
Login to Watch this Case

Attorneys/Judges
Judge(s): Alex Bencze


For more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.


CONVICTED: Was justice served?

Please vote on whether or not you feel the sentence in this case was appropriate for the crime. (Be sure to read the entire case and sentencing before voting.)

weak sentence = one star
strong sentence = 5 stars

more information on voting

When you vote, you are voting on whether or not the punishment fit the crime, NOT on the severity of the case itself. If you feel the sentence was very weak, you would vote 1 star. If you feel the sentence was very strong, you would vote 5 stars.

Please vote honestly and realistically. These ratings will be used a a tool for many future programs, including a "People’s Choice" of best and worst sentencing, DA and judge "report cards", and more. Try to resist the temptation to vote 1 star on every case, even if you feel that 100 years in prison isn’t enough.

Case #17335 Rating: 3.2 out of 5



Family dog shot with high-powered pellet gun
Aurora, CO (US)

Incident Date: Tuesday, May 4, 2010
County: Arapahoe

Charges: Misdemeanor
Disposition: Convicted

Defendant/Suspect: Craig E. Deering

Case Updates: 2 update(s) available

Aurora residents are frightened and outraged after they learned that their neighbor shot and killed another neighbor's dog with a high-powered pellet gun earlier this week. And this wasn't the first time he's shot at other people's pets, two residents said.

Craig Deering, 68, was arrested Tuesday in connection with the shooting of his neighbor's dog, "Kaci," police said Friday.

Deering initially denied any knowledge of the shooting, according to a police report.

But when an officer said two neighbors witnessed the shooting, Deering said: "Yes, I shot the dog with a pellet gun just to scare it out of my yard," according to the report.

"(Deering) stated that he was standing inside his house when he opened the front door and fired the gun at the dog," according to the report.


VanLiew said she didn't know anything was wrong until the dog entered their garage, collapsed on her side and "began to shake violently," the report said.

"My first thought was: 'Oh my God, she got stung by a bee,'" VanLiew recounted. "She's allergic to bees and now she's going to go into cardiac arrest. And then I looked at her stomach and I saw the puncture wound. The last thing I would have thought is that she'd be shot by a neighbor of mine."

A friend helped VanLiew rush the dog to an animal hospital where a veterinarian confirmed Kaci was shot with a "high-powered pellet gun" and two pellets were found inside the animal.

VanLiew is still grappling with the killing of Kaci, a Hungarian Vizsla retriever who was nursing a new litter of puppies.

"I'm in shock. I'm numb," she said Friday. "There was no reason why he should have killed my best friend. She was one of my children, and I would never expect anybody to do such a terrible, terrible thing. There's no remorse. There's no apology, there's no nothing."

Deering was cited for misdemeanor animal cruelty and firing a weapon within city limits. He was released on $1,500 bond.

The shooting of a beloved pet riled residents in the Seven Hills neighborhood.

"(Deering) is now back home and acting like nothing's happened," neighbor Astrid Weimer said in a e-mail to TheDenverChannel.com.

"People are worried about their animals and their kids now," she said.

Weimer said she gave Deering a piece of her mind.

"I just told him that he is a sorry excuse for a human being," she said. "You know neighbors should be there for each other."

Weimer also planted a sign on her front lawn declaring, "Dog Killer Lives Here," with an arrow pointing at Deering's house.

After his initial denials, Deering said he shot the dog because "he had been attacked by the dog previously and didn't want the dog in his yard," the report said.

VanLiew told 7NEWS she'd never heard of Kaci attacking the man and doesn't believe it's true.

Asked for the gun, Deering showed police where it was "hidden in a trash can," the police report said. The pistol was loaded with a pellet in the chamber.

Deering was arrested and informed of his right to remain silent and to have an attorney, police said.

"The suspect stated that he did understand his rights and (that) he would buy the victim another dog," the officer wrote in the report.

Asked why he put the pellet gun in the trash, "(Deering) stated that he figured that the victim would call the police since her dog was probably bleeding," the report said.

TheDenverChannel.com found Deering had a 1998 conviction for driving while ability impaired in Arapahoe County, according to court records. After a Denver domestic violence arrest in 1991, Deering pleaded no contest to threatening a person, disturbing the peace and destroying property. He was sentenced to three days in jail and one-year probation.

VanLiew said its hard to explain to her boys that their dog is dead.

"My boys want Kaci back. They came home Tuesday night and came inside and they called her name and I had to tell them what had happened," she said.

The killing of a pet has meant a loss of innocence and trust in the close-knit suburban neighborhood.

"I just want people to know that they need to be careful," VanLiew said. "If you think it's OK for your dog to come outside with you to check your mail, think again. Because you never know who … your neighbors are just when you think you do."

"You've got to be careful. This could happen to anybody's dogs. What's next, a child?" she said.


Case Updates

A 69-year-old Aurora man who killed his neighbor's dog with a pellet gun last spring is set for sentencing next week.

Craig Deering pleaded guilty Jan. 3 to a misdemeanor count of animal cruelty stemming from the May shooting death of his neighbor's dog, Kaci.

At his sentencing Tuesday afternoon, Deering faces a sentence of up to 18 months in county jail and a fine of up to $5,000, prosecutors said.

In an e-mail last week, Kaci's owner, Dan Foat, as well as neighbors said they hope Deering gets jail time rather than a lesser sentence like probation.

Deering was arrested May 4 and charged with animal cruelty and discharging a weapon in the city, both misdemeanors, after police say he shot Kaci.

The charges were initially filed in Aurora Municipal Court, but city prosecutors said a few days after the shooting they felt the case warranted the more-serious felony charge and turned the case over to county prosecutors.

Foat, as well as her neighbors, lobbied prosecutors to file felony charges, arguing the crime was too serious for a lesser charge.

District Attorney Carol Chambers said a few weeks later that prosecutors didn't believe the felony charge was appropriate because there wasn't proof Deering meant to kill the dog, which had been reported to animal care officials as a nuisance in the past.

Prosecutors instead filed the misdemeanor charge, which Deering pleaded guilty to in early January.

According to the police report, the day Kaci was shot, Foat and her dog strolled to the mailbox near her home in the 19400 block of East Brunswick Avenue.

The dog seemed fine, Foat said, until it walked into the family's garage, where it collapsed and started shaking.

Foat took Kaci to the Seven Hills Veterinary Clinic, where she died.

Veterinarians at Seven Hills later found two pellets inside Kaci, one in her heart and another in her lungs.

The police report said a neighbor saw Deering shoot the dog.

When police asked Deering about the incident, he at first denied it but later said he shot the dog because he wanted to scare it out of his yard, according to the report. Deering also said the dog had attacked him before, but the report didn't say when that happened.

Deering then retrieved from a garbage can the high-powered pellet gun he said he used to shoot the dog and was arrested on the two misdemeanor charges.
Source: aurorasentinel.com - Jan 30, 2011
Update posted on Jan 31, 2011 - 9:24PM 
Dana VanLiew expressed outrage that Arapahoe County prosecutors rejected a felony cruelty charge for the neighbor who killed her dog with a pellet gun.

Instead prosecutors are sticking with the original charge against 68-year-old Craig Deering: misdemeanor animal cruelty, which carries a maximum penalty of 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine, the District Attorney's Office said in a Friday press release.

VanLiew and neighbors in her Aurora neighborhood are furious that Deering fired the pellet gun from inside his front doorway May 4, mortally wounding Kaci, a Hungarian Vizsla retriever, after the dog ran onto his front lawn.

"Wow! I don't understand, I'm really disappointed. I'm shocked," VanLiew said when a reporter told her about prosecutors' decision.

Deering was initially charged with misdemeanor cruelty by the Aurora City Attorney's Office.

But Aurora City Attorney Charlie Richardson, saying he thought the dog killing warranted a felony charge, last month asked the district attorney to consider prosecuting Deering for aggravated cruelty to animals.

The district attorney release said the allegation is that "Deering recklessly and needlessly killed a neighbor's dog that was running loose in his yard."

Yet, prosecutors said a thorough review by the Aurora police indicted that Deering "did not intend to kill the animal," the statement said. The investigation also "indicates that there were previous complaints to Aurora Animal Control about the dog as well as allegations that the dog could be aggressive."

Deering told police that the dog previously attacked him and he shot it when it returned to his yard, the police report said.

VanLiew stressed that Deering, who she described as a hunter, shot her dog twice in the heart.

"He aimed for her heart and shot her in the heart. That's what killed her," VanLiew said. "So, really, he didn't intend to kill her? But he aimed for her heart," the dog owner said.

VanLiew said she has hired an attorney and plans to file a lawsuit against Deering.

As for claims of animal control complaints, VanLiew said she thinks investigators confused Kaci with a Golden Retriever she had until she recently gave it to a friend.

That dog, MarLee, chewed through a backyard fence and escaped a few times last year, triggering two visits from an animal control officer.

"Kaci never got out. She never hurt anybody," said the dog owner, who doesn't believe Deering's story of the dog threatening him.

"Whoever investigated this didn't do their job," VanLiew said, adding that no investigators have spoken with her since a patrol officer took a report the day Kaci was killed.

A district attorney's office spokeswoman, however, said the investigation by police and showed misdemeanor animal cruelty �" not felony charges �" were warranted.

"We certainly understand that she feels strongly about this particular issue; she's the dog's owner," said district attorney spokeswoman Casimir Spencer. "But based on the investigation that was done by the Aurora Police Department and by our office, this is what we found."

VanLiew said the shooting occurred as she and her young sons walked Kaci down to the neighborhood mailbox. The owner said she didn't know the dog was injured until Kaci collapsed in convulsions when the family returned home.

The dog, who was nursing a new litter of puppies, was rushed to a local animal hospital where a veterinarian confirmed Kaci was shot with a "high-powered pellet gun." Two pellets were found inside the animal, the report said.

Two neighbors, who heard the pellet shots coming from Deering's home, told police this wasn't the first time Deering has shot at people's pets, the report said.

Deering initially denied knowing anything about the shooting, the report said.

But when an officer said neighbors witnessed the shooting, Deering said: "Yes, I shot the dog with a pellet gun just to scare it out of my yard," the report said.

When police asked Deering for the gun, he showed officers where it was "hidden in a trash can," the report said.
Source: thedenverchannel.com/ - Jun 11, 2010
Update posted on Jan 31, 2011 - 9:19PM 

References

  • « Back to Search Results
    « CO State Animal Cruelty Map
    « More cases in Arapahoe County, CO

    Note: Classifications and other fields should not be used to determine what specific charges the suspect is facing or was convicted of - they are for research and statistical purposes only. The case report and subsequent updates outline the specific charges. Charges referenced in the original case report may be modified throughout the course of the investigation or trial, so case updates, when available, should always be considered the most accurate reflection of charges.

    For more information regarding classifications and usage of this database, please visit the database notes and disclaimer.



    Send this page to a friend
© Copyright 2001-2011 Pet-Abuse.Com. All rights reserved. Site Map ¤ Disclaimer ¤ Privacy Policy