Texas: Morons on the jury said Bexar County deputy Ebony Jones not responsible for killing his K9 partner which cooked alive in his patrol car

TEXAS -- A former Bexar County Sheriff's Office deputy was not responsible for the death of his K-9 partner, a jury decided Friday after being instructed by a judge to reach a not guilty verdict.

Ebony Jones had been charged with cruelty to animals, accused of acting recklessly in the death of his K-9 partner, a 5-year-old yellow Labrador retriever named Duke.

The dog died in the back of their squad car June 16, 2010, while the deputy made a routine stop at a substation.

Prosecutors argued Jones, 38, "betrayed" Duke by leaving him in the car for about 30 minutes on a hot day, with temperatures rising to about 90 degrees.

'Insufficient evidence'
But shortly after prosecutors rested their case Friday, Jones' attorney, Mark Stevens, asked visiting Judge George Godwin to instruct the jury to reach a not guilty verdict - based on what Godwin and Stevens both later called "insufficient evidence" to prove Jones' guilt.

Instructed verdicts often are requested by defense attorneys but rarely granted. Stevens said it was the third one he's seen in all of his cases spanning the past 35 years.

Bexar County Assistant District Attorney Jessica Frazier had spent much of the week calling first responders to the witness stand.

Melissa Draper, former chief veterinarian for Animal Care Services - the city's animal control division - told jurors Wednesday that while performing a necropsy on Duke the day after he died, she saw "hallmark signs" of heatstroke, including rigid limbs and hemorrhaging throughout his body.

Blamed the car
No test for heatstroke in dogs is available, Draper said, but hot cars often are fatal on hot summer days.

"It's essentially a cooking of the body," she said.

Hours after the dog's death, animal control workers found Duke's body to be 107.5 degrees - more than 4 degrees higher than a healthy temperature for a dog, Draper said.

But Stevens - and apparently Godwin - weren't convinced Jones had anything to do with Duke's death. "If he did die of heatstroke, it wasn't Ebony's fault," Stevens said. "There must've been a malfunction in the car."

Jones, who was fired from the sheriff's office in fall 2010, said he already has plans to ask for his old job back and work until retirement.

"This man didn't kill his dog," Stevens said. "That's what I know - 100 percent."

(Houston Chronicle-Jun 6, 2014)

Earlier:

• Bexar County deputy indicted in deaths of two police dogs