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Charge against pastor who killed dog dropped, owner vows ‘It’s not over.’
By Ed Runyan
GIRARD
Although a judge dismissed a charge against Pastor David W. Murphy for shooting his neighbor’s dog, the neighbor vowed the matter “is not over.”
Judge Jeffrey Adler of Girard Municipal Court dismissed the misdemeanor criminal charge filed against the pastor at a hearing Wednesday.
Pastor Murphy, 61, of Niles-Vienna Road, shot and wounded his neighbor’s dog Oct. 24 in Vienna Township.
Atty. Michael Scala, serving as prosecutor in the absence of Prosecutor Michael Bloom, said after the hearing he dismissed it because “prosecuting it would be pointless.”
He came to that conclusion while reviewing the laws relating to the situation before court began, he said. Scala was not the prosecutor who filed the charge originally and said he doesn’t know the circumstances surrounding the original filing of the charge.
During the hearing, which Pastor Murphy attended, Scala asked Judge Adler to dismiss the charge. The judge did so, but noted the charge could be refiled.
The dog’s owner, Kimberly Ellis, didn’t have a chance to talk to Scala and said she didn’t understand what had just happened. She said, however, “It’s not over.”
Scala explained that Atty. Gary Rich, who represents Pastor Murphy, posted $500 with the court to settle the matter with Ellis, but Ellis refused to accept the money.
Rich filed two documents with the court before Wednesday’s hearing, one Nov. 3 that explained that he was posting $500 with the court because of an Ohio law relating to trespassing animals that says a person injuring or killing a trespassing animal should post damage money with the court for “damages done to such animal.”
A hearing in about 60 days will determine what the appropriate amount of damages should be, Scala said. The hearing date was not available Wednesday.
Pastor Murphy was charged by Vienna police with injuring animals under an Ohio law that says a person cannot “maliciously, or willfully, and without the consent of the owner, kill or injure a ... dog, cat, or other domestic animal that is the property of another.”
But Scala and Rich also cited a statute that says “a dog that is chasing or approaching in a menacing fashion or apparent attitude of attack ... can be killed ...”
Many supporters of Ellis and her dog, a black Labrador retriever named Tucker, attended the hearing. After the hearing, when Rich explained to reporters why he thought the charge had been dropped, Ellis’ supporters voiced their frustration. One woman yelled at the attorney, calling him “disgusting.”
Tucker’s death resulted in the creation of a Facebook page called “Justice for Tucker” that attracted much attention. The next weekend after the dog died, Ellis and animal-rights supporters had a demonstration at Pastor Murphy’s church on West Park Avenue in Weathersfield Township, calling for him to resign.
According to a Vienna Township police report, Pastor Murphy told police he fired at the dog after seeing it acting aggressively toward his chickens, which were caged in his back yard. Another dog with the black Lab was not hit by the gunfire.
The pastor told 21 WFMJ-TV, The Vindicator’s broadcast partner, he “shot at the dog to miss him and to scare him, but actually ended up hitting him.”
Ellis, of nearby Warren-Sharon Road, told police she was working in her back yard with her dogs unleashed when she realized Tucker was missing.
She searched about 30 minutes on a four-wheeler through rural areas behind her house and her 80 acres before hearing three gunshots, each accompanied by an animal “yelp” and then a fourth shot.
She headed toward the gunshots and stopped to ask a woman at the Murphy residence if she had seen two dogs, and the woman said she had not.
After 30 more minutes of searching, Ellis went back toward Murphy’s residence, where she found Tucker barely moving. She later learned at a veterinarian’s office the dog had three gunshot wounds, one of which severed its spine. She had Tucker euthanized.