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Case #9519 Rating: 2.8 out of 5
Dog and boy choked, dog dies
Hoffman Estates, IL (US)Incident Date: Friday, Aug 18, 2006
County: Cook
Charges: Felony CTA
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: John W. Meyer
Case Updates: 4 update(s) available
A Hanover Township man has been charged with choking one of his stepchildren and killing the family Chihuahua after the dog urinated on a bedroom rug, authorities said.
John W. Meyer, 41, of the 5100 block of Shotkoski Drive, in an unincorporated area near Hoffman Estates, was charged with one count of domestic battery, a misdemeanor, and one felony count of aggravated cruelty to an animal, police said.
Meyer was home on the morning of August 18 with his stepchildren, ages 12 and 9, when the children's 7-month-old Chihuahua, Kendrick, urinated in the master bedroom, said Cook County sheriff's police spokeswoman Penny Mateck.
In front of both children, Meyer allegedly grabbed the 4-pound dog by the neck, choked it and threw it about 14 feet against a wall. Meyer then put the dog back in its pen where it lay unresponsive and later died, Mateck said.
Meyer ordered the 12-year-old stepson to clean up the urine, but when the boy could not find cleaning supplies, Meyer grabbed him by the shirt hard enough to choke him briefly, Mateck said. Meyer surrendered to sheriff's police on the afternoon of Aug 21 and was to be held overnight, Mateck said.
Cook County Circuit Judge James Etchingham set bail Tuesday at $5,000, according to state's attorney's office spokesman Andrew Conklin.
Case UpdatesMost of the time, his sister says, John Meyer was a friend to animals -- bringing home strays as a kid, nursing a baby blue jay back to health and, as an adult dog owner, making sure the family Chihuahua had the best food and care.
On Thursday, though, the Hanover Township man was formally sentenced for the time he snapped.
Meyer, 42, will spend two years on felony probation, serve 40 hours of community service and attend domestic violence counseling for his crime: tossing the Chihuahua across the room and into a wall after he discovered it had urinated in the bedroom, then spanking him and rubbing his nose in the urine.
The dog, Kendrick, died.
"I'm very sorry for what happened," Meyer, his hands clasped behind his back, told Cook County Judge James Etchingham at his sentencing hearing. "That was not what was supposed to happen."
Meyer and his lawyer have said he intended only to discipline the dog, not kill it.
Meyer was convicted in July of aggravated cruelty to an animal, a crime that could have landed him in jail.
Assistant State's Attorney Michael Gerber pushed for that, saying Meyer has an anger management problem.
Putting him in prison, Gerber said, would show that "we as a society will not tolerate this kind of cruelty."
Meyer's attorney, Ernest DiBenedetto, argued Meyer cannot be compared to people prosecuted for prolonged and repeated animal cruelty.
Before handing down the sentence, Etchingham, a dog owner, said he'd studied letters -- some from the public urging jail time and others from Meyer's friends and family -- and conflicting portraits of Meyer himself.
On one hand, Meyer seems an animal himself, Etchingham said, noting: "I can't, for the life of me, fathom how any reasonable person can commit such a violent, despicable … and outright mean act." Accounts of the dog's injuries, including a fractured leg and ruptured liver, were sickening, Etchingham said.
At the same time, he said, Meyer has had no prior run-ins with the law and was, by all accounts, a model citizen.
Two witnesses, including Meyer's sister, Lynne Meyer, took the stand on his behalf. They each defended him as a caring man.
DiBenedetto called the dog's death "a terrible and unfortunate incident that was brought on by some stress."
Around the time he threw Kendrick, Meyer said, a relative had died and a friend was diagnosed with cancer. He'd also been let go from work.
Barbara Chadwick, an animal rights activist who was in court Thursday, said she'd like to know Meyer is prohibited from further contact with dogs. That is not a condition of his probation.
Meyer has been banned from living at home since the incident because of a domestic battery charge lodged the same day alleging he choked his stepson when the 12-year-old didn't clean up after Kendrick. That charge was dismissed.
Meyer also stands to lose the licenses he holds as a real estate and mortgage broker, home inspector, salesman and aircraft mechanic. | Source: Daily Herald - Sept 14, 2007
Update posted on Sep 17, 2007 - 5:19PM |
A man who told police he may have "overdisciplined" the family's Chihuahua puppy by throwing it across a room after it urinated on a rug last year was convicted on July 24, 2007 of felony animal cruelty in the dog's death.
John W. Meyer, 42, of Hanover Township, was found guilty by Judge James Etchingham after a 2-hour bench trial in the Rolling Meadows branch of Cook County Circuit Court.
Meyer, of the 5100 block of Shotkoski Drive near Hoffman Estates, was arrested a few days after the Aug. 18 incident. He admitted to police he had picked up the 6-month-old dog, Kendrick, in a fit of rage and tried to discipline it for urinating on a rug in the master bedroom.
A separate misdemeanor domestic battery charge related to the choking of his stepson, then 12, for not cleaning up the mess fast enough was later dropped.
In a statement to police, Meyer said he became angry when the dog urinated and ran to hide in a playpen in a child's room, where it usually slept, Sheriff's Police Detective Steven Moody told the court. Meyer grabbed the dog out of the playpen, threw it into the master bedroom, rubbed its nose in the urine and struck it in the hindquarters with his hand, he said in his statement, part of which Moody read in court.
Police were called to the Meyer home on a report of a dead animal inside. Officers found the lifeless dog in the playpen. A necropsy showed the dog had internal injuries and a broken rear leg.
Meyer's attorney, Ernie DiBenedetto (the name as published has been corrected in this text), tried to show that Meyer did not intend to harm the dog, just deter it from urinating. But Etchingham said state law defines aggravated cruelty to an animal as any act in which someone intentionally harms a pet, and he had no choice but to find Meyer guilty.
"I don't believe for a moment ... Meyer intended to kill the dog," Etchingham said from the bench.
But the judge said it was clear that Meyer intentionally committed the act that led to the dog's death.
The felony conviction, punishable by up to 3 years in prison, could mean the loss of Meyer's real estate license. Sentencing is scheduled for Aug. 27.
Meyer's case was followed closely by members of the Dog Advisory Work Group, a Chicago-based animal rights group that monitors animal-cruelty court cases. | Source: Chicago Tribune - July 25, 2007
Update posted on Aug 7, 2007 - 7:11AM |
| John W. Meyer will appear in court for a pre-trial conference on February 20, 2007 at 1:30 p.m. in District 3, located at 2121 Euclid Ave, Rolling Meadows, IL 60008. He is facing felony animal cruelty charges for the killing of his family's chihuahua, and misdemeanor battery charges for allegedly choking his stepson. | Source: Cook County Court
Update posted on Jan 5, 2007 - 9:11PM |
Meyer, 41, appeared in bond court on Aug 22 to face a felony charge of aggravated animal cruelty and a misdemeanor charge of domestic battery.
His bail was set at $5,000, but it wasn't clear later that day whether Meyer had posted the required $500 needed to secure his release.
The violence occurred about 11 a.m. Friday after Kendrick urinated on a rug in the home's master bedroom, sheriff's police spokeswoman Penny Mateck said.
"The kids were very traumatized by this," Mateck said.
Meyer allegedly yanked on the boy's collar when the youngster didn't move quickly enough after being ordered to mop up the dog's urine, authorities said.
The children's mother wasn't home at the time, officials said.
Police began investigating after a "concerned citizen" reported the alleged incident, Mateck said. Investigators found the dog's body still in its pen at the home, she said.
Meyer surrendered to police on Aug 21.
He faces a maximum three-year prison sentence if convicted of the animal cruelty charge. The domestic violence charge carries a maximum one-year jail term. | Source: NBC News - Aug 23, 2005
Update posted on Aug 30, 2006 - 11:36AM |
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