Man won’t face trial for shooting of canine,

GEORGETOWN — A Williamson County judge dismissed charges against a man accused of shooting a dog on the day his jury trial was supposed to begin.

Bing Michael Yee, 51, was indicted on charges of aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, deadly conduct by firearm discharge and cruelty to an animal. Prosecutors asked for a dismissal of the charges, and 368th District Court Judge Rick Kennon signed off on the request Monday morning.

Had Yee’s trial proceeded as scheduled, his lawyer would have argued that he acted in self defense.

In September 2012, Yee told Cedar Park police that a dog ran out of a house and at him while he was on a walk with his own dog, a complaint said. Yee shot at the dog four times and struck it multiple times with a pistol, killing it, a complaint said.

A prosecutor with the Williamson County District Attorney’s Office said she would have to “actually disprove that he was using self defense” to get a conviction. Once she put herself in his shoes, there was evidence to suggest that Yee acted as he felt he needed to in the situation, prosecutor Elizabeth Whited said.

“We did have some records from the VA,” Whited said, later adding, “I don’t want to be giving away too much of his private information.”

Whited declined to further elaborate. Yee’s lawyer, Adam Reposa, could not be reached for comment Monday.

Earlier this year, Yee was ordered by a judge to not share evidence meant for the jury’s eyes after he posted a 911 call to Round Rock police, which he obtained through a public information request, on blogs, Facebook and other Web pages, Whited said. The published evidence didn’t factor into the dismissal of the counts against Yee, Whited said.

“We stand by Cedar Park police making the arrest, we stand by the charges,” Whited said. “Unfortunately when we got to the self-defense claim, it added a tricky element for the state to disprove.”