Hearing for Dog Incident Postponed
Photo courtesy Mark Jordan
It will be the end of June or early July before controversy might be resolved over the case of a Royston Police officer who shot and killed his neighbor’s dog.
Hart County Magistrate Judge Thomas Jordan has called in Stephens County Magistrate Judge Donald Tabor to hear the case in a special pre-warrant hearing.
The will determine whether there is enough evidence to charge Officer Ken Reynolds with cruelty to animals and issue a warrant for his arrest.
The incident happened sometime between May 28 and May 29 on Mt. Olivet Road where Reynolds lives.
According to the dog’s owner, Mark Jordan, he let his three dogs out early on the morning of May 28th, but one dog, named Booder, did not return.
Jordan found Booder dead, just inside Deborah Cleveland’s 30-acre property, which is next door to Reynold’s property.
Hart County Sheriff Mike Cleveland says Reynolds told his Deputies he shot the dog because he was afraid for the safety of his Chihuahua.
“When we arrived, they had already asked Mr. Reynolds did he shoot their dog. He said he shot a dog, but he didn’t know if it was their dog or not.”
According to Cleveland, officer Reynolds has had problems in the past with his neighbors dogs coming onto his property and killing his chickens.
Jordan claims his dog was on Cleveland’s property when it was shot and would not have done anything to warrant Reynolds shooting it.
“Booder was not attacking him,” Jordan said. “This is a baby puppy. He may have some size to him, but he is a baby puppy. You will never find a sweeter dog that what Booder was and this guy shot him and left him to die.”
The hearing had been scheduled for last week, but Jordan said he asked for the continuance, in order to get legal advice and because one of his witnesses was not able to attend the hearing last week.
“It was put off because there’s a material witness,” Jordan said. “So, myself asking and the material witness being gone, Judge Tabor decided to put it off until a later date, late June or early July.”