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Judge orders Pastor Murphy to pay $800 for killing neighbor’s dog
By Ed Runyan
GIRARD
Document
Judge Jeffrey Adler of Girard Municipal Court has ordered Pastor David W. Murphy of Vienna to pay his neighbor, the owner of a black Labrador retriever named Tucker, $800 in damages for killing the dog.
But in his judgment entry, the judge again mentioned his dissatisfaction with the law governing the killing of such animals, saying his “hands are tied” by it.
“The killing of poor Tucker seems like such a senseless act,” the judgment entry says. “It is hard for one to fathom that in an attempt to simply scare the young pup, the defendant accurately hit him with three out of four shots.
“However, the Ohio Legislature has deemed it appropriate for persons to freely kill dogs that trespass upon their land as long as they submit payment of damages to the local court of jurisdiction within 15 days of the killing. The defendant has abided by the statute.”
Kimberly Ellis of Warren-Sharon Road, Tucker’s owner, said after reading the judge’s comments: “I’m grateful for [the judge’s] opinion that [Murphy] did it in a mean way, but there he walks, free and clear.”
The judge’s order followed an April 1 hearing during which Ellis testified as to the events of Oct. 24, when the dog wandered away from her large property while she was working outside.
While looking for Tucker, she heard four gunshots and three “yelps” that she thought came from Tucker, then found him about an hour later near Murphy’s home on nearby Niles Vienna Road.
A veterinarian later said the dog had been hit by three gunshots, one of which severed his spine. She had the dog euthanized.
During the April 1 hearing, Ellis’ attorney, Samuel Bluedorn, asked Judge Adler to order Pastor Murphy, 61, who leads a church in Niles, to pay at least $1,630, including lost wages for Ellis, earlier veterinary expenses for Tucker unrelated to the shooting and any other compensation the judge deemed warranted.
Judge Adler wrote in the entry that “although [he] would consider additional damages, it is simply not allowed” as the law is written. “Based on the testimony of Ms. Ellis, the court finds that the ‘damages done to such animal by such killing’ are $792.50. The defendant has agreed to pay [Ellis] $800.” The $800 consisted of the $350 Ellis paid for the dog and close to $450 for medical bills and gas for the trip to an Akron veterinarian.
Pastor Murphy, who did not attend the April 1 hearing, indicated shortly after the shooting that he had not intended to kill the dog, but fire over his head to scare him and another dog with him that were menacing his chickens, which were in a coop.
Murphy initially was charged with a misdemeanor criminal offense of injuring animals, but a Girard prosecutor later sought and received dismissal of the charge.
The incident produced a Facebook page and signs throughout the area containing the Internet address Justicefortucker.org directing people to sign a petition.
Ellis hopes the petition will help convince Ohio lawmakers that the current law should be rewritten to limit the conditions under which someone can shoot a dog.