Man who beat neighbor’s dog gets weekend in jail, year of probation
A South Haven man who admitted beating his neighbor’s dog so badly that it lost an eye last year will spend a weekend in jail, a year on probation, and have to perform community service and undergo anger management, as well as pay restitution for the dog’s veterinary care.
Porter Superior Court Judge Jeffrey Clymer formally accepted a plea agreement Monday for Ronald Johnson, 56, of the 300 block of Pinewood Drive, which calls for a guilty plea to one count of mutilating a vertebrate animal, a Level 6 felony. A second count, a misdemeanor charge of cruelty to an animal, was dismissed.
The charges came after Johnson allegedly reached over the fence and struck his neighbor’s beagle- dachshund mix Echo on the head with a log while the dog was in the neighbor’s yard on Aug. 28, 2019.
Clymer, who noted there was some discrepancy in the documents about whether Johnson had used a stick or a log but he had admitted to the crime all the same, had the option of entering the sentence as a misdemeanor but decided on the more serious crime, which renders Johnson unable to vote, serve on a jury or carry a firearm.
Courtney Gut ow ski, Echo’s owner, has said Echo’s right eye socket was fractured and he had hemorrhaging behind his eye, which was later removed. The incident, she’s said, also changed the dog’s behavior.
Speaking via Zoom for the sentencing, which was held online because of the COVID -19 pandemic, Gutowski said Johnson injured Echo when she and her husband were out of town for the death of a family member. Two weeks before that, she said, she asked Johnson not to hurt her dog.
“Yes, he did bark a lot,” she said, adding she eventually paid for a privacy fence, an expense she could not afford, to protect herself and Echo from Johnson.
Johnson, appearing from the office of his attorney, Adam Tavitas, also addressed the court.
“I apologize to Mrs. Gutowski because my actions have caused her great turmoil and stress the past year and several months,” he said, adding he had no intention of maiming the dog and it will never happen.
Deputy Prosecutor Christopher Hammer said that while Johnson doesn’t have a criminal history, “this has been an ongoing matter,” and while pets are considered “simple property” under the law, “this dog is more than ‘simple property.’”
Tavitas, noting that several people, including Johnson’s pastor, had sent letters in to the court in his support and his daughter was part of the Zoom meeting for the sentencing, said his client “is a very good person” without a previous criminal record who also put himself in his current situation by injuring Gutowski’s dog.
Johnson, Tavitas said, has received multiple threats via social media over the last 15 months and his address also was shared.
“No one should be threatened by anybody as a result of this matter,” Clymer said, adding the threats could constitute a crime.
If Johnson fails to complete any of the terms of his plea, which also includes $1,100 in restitution to Gutowski, Clymer said he could revoke Johnson’s probation and sentence him to serve his one-year sentence in jail instead.
If Johnson meets all the stipulations of his plea agreement, Clymer said, he could request the court to reduce his felony to a misdemeanor, “but only if you absolutely comply with everything that I ordered.”