Case Details

10-week-old puppy beaten with PVC pipe
Eustis, FL (US)

Incident Date: Thursday, Jun 15, 2006
County: Lake
Local Map: available

Disposition: Acquitted
Case Images: 6 files available

Person of Interest: Karl Shirey

Case Updates: 1 update(s) available

Case ID: 8990
Classification: Beating
Animal: dog (non pit-bull)
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Abuse was retaliation against animal's bad behavior
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A Lake County man is accused of beating his puppy with a pipe. Investigators said he would have gotten away with it, if not for his neighbors.

The 10-week-old puppy's owner was charged with animal cruelty. Lake County deputies said he hit the dog with a PVC pipe and broke its leg.

Despite a large cast on her leg, Cherry wags her tail and limps around to greet strangers. The puppy is able to walk thanks to a successful surgery and heavy pain medicine.

Her owner, 54-year-old Karl Shirey, is in jail after neighbors said they spotted him using a PVC pipe to beat the little dog.

"He had her by the back of the neck here and the pipe in his hand here and was just beating her," said neighbor Regina Quinette.

Quinette lives next door and was the one who called police. She said she couldn't bear to hear the puppy cry.

"I actually wanted to take the pipe and beat him with it, but instead I called Lake County," she said.

When Lake County authorities arrived, they found the dog tied to a chain and a bloodied pipe lying on the ground. Shirey told deputies he was just disciplining the puppy because it ran into a neighbor's yard.

"He was calling her. She wouldn't come back to him. Of course, I wouldn't come back to him either. And then he beat her," Quinette explained.

Shirey has seven other animal, including a cat, pig and a horse. Neighbors said they've had to feed his horse for several months now, because he wasn't feeding it.

It's not clear what will happen to his other animals.

Meanwhile, Cherry is becoming a favorite at Lake County Animal Control. She'll be kept there as evidence as Shirey goes on trial. The dog won't be available for adoption until after his trial.

Shirey is being held on $2,000 bond.

Case Updates

Handyman Karl Shirey could have gone from the county's doghouse to the big house, but a jury decided he was not guilty of animal cruelty for breaking a puppy's leg.

Shirey, 55, who has sparred frequently with Animal Control and other county agencies about the condition of his property and animals, had faced a possible five-year prison sentence.

Defense lawyer Jeffrey Wiggs said Animal Control unfairly targeted Shirey.

"Once you get on their radar, they don't let up," Wiggs said.

During his trial this week, Shirey admitted he struck the pup with his hand but insisted he hadn't clubbed it with a PVC pipe, as a neighbor had insisted when she called deputies.

Shirey said he hit the puppy because she ran away and bit him.

The pup, a chow-lab mix named Cherry, suffered a broken leg and was chained and cowering under a vehicle in Shirey's yard when deputies arrived.

Cherry has since recovered and was adopted through South Lake Animal Hospital in Clermont.

The complaint was the county's latest against Shirey.

He has been fined more than $8,000 for accumulating junk on his Huff Road property.

In 2004, Lake County Judge Richard Boylston dismissed animal-cruelty charges that accused Shirey of mistreating pigs. But the judge also gave Animal Control officers the right to check regularly on Shirey's pigs.

After Shirey's arrest last year in the puppy case, Animal Control officers obtained another court order to seize 30 pigs, 15 chickens, two dogs, two doves, a steer, a horse and a cat from his property. Authorities said some were in ill health.

"They've cost me about $35,000, probably more, including all my lawyers,"Shirey said of his squabbles with the county.

Marjorie Boyd, director of the county's Animal Services, said her agency hasn't targeted Shirey. She said the agency has never charged him with a crime and has acted only in the interest of the animals, which were left without a caretaker while Shirey was in jail for 16 days.

Shirey's lawyer told jurors the county failed to prove its case.

He said deputies failed to test the PVC pipe to see if it bore fur or other DNA evidence from the pup. Jurors deliberated less than 10 minutes Wednesday before pronouncing Shirey not guilty of animal cruelty.

Shirey said he regretted what happened to the pup, explaining he may have broken Cherry's leg accidentally when he stepped on her.

He also said his accuser, Regina Quinette, has been angry with him because she mistakenly thought that he complained to Animal Control officers about her sister's horses.

The verdict disappointed Assistant State Attorney Judith Haworth, who was prevented by the rules of evidence from presenting testimony about Shirey's other run-ins with Animal Control.

"His history with animals, to say the least, isn't good," she said.
Source: Orlando Sentinel - Sept 15, 2007
Update posted on Sep 17, 2007 - 12:18PM 

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References

WFTV - June 16, 2006

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