May 11 hearing set in dog beating case

Staff report

girard

A case in which a man is alleged to have beaten his dog has been set for another pretrial hearing.

John Giordano, 51, faces a second-degree misdemeanor charge of cruelty to animals.

He will next appear in Girard Municipal Court at 1:30 p.m. May 11.

Police arrested Giordano in February after multiple people reported a video, in which it appears that a man is beating a dog on North St. Clair Street.

In the video, a man appears to strike a dog multiple times, hit it with his knee and choke it.

The dog, a rottweiler named Hazard, is in the custody of the Animal Welfare League of Trumbull County.

About 15 animal rights activists protested outside Girard Municipal Court Wednesday before Giordano’s hearing.

Activists submitted a petition to the prosecutor’s office asking for the maximum sentence allowable under Ohio law.