Prichard, 60, faces up to 10 years in prison, a prosecutor said. The punishment phase of his trial begins Thursday.
Updated at 1:30 p.m.:
Testimony began Tuesday in the trial of a Mesquite man accused of beating and drowning his dog with jurors viewing a surveillance video from the man’s house showing the deadly attack.
Prosecutors say Robert Prichard, 60, savagely beat his pit bull Candy with a shovel and then threw her into his backyard swimming pool in August 2013. He told police he struck the dog in self-defense.
A neighbor who called police after the attack testified this morning, saying she looked out her bathroom window after the attack and saw Prichard standing over the yelping dog.
“You’re dead, dog!” he yelled, according to the woman. “You’re dead!”
If convicted, Prichard could receive up to 10 years in prison, according to the Dallas County district attorney’s office.
Surveillance video obtained from Prichard’s home shows the dog struggling to escape the pool after the beating. Prichard says he threw the dog in the pool to “cool it off.”
Before pulling the dog out, he pushes her back in with what appears to be a pool net. He then uses the net to push Candy toward the shallow end of the pool, scooping her up by her neck and walking out of the camera’s view.
Police who arrived at the scene found the dog lying on her side — not moving or breathing — near a doghouse in Prichard’s backyard, an officer testified.
In court Wednesday, prosecutors also showed video of Prichard’s interview with detectives. In it, he admits striking the dog with his shovel but says he did so in self-defense.
“The problem is that the dog was the problem,” he told investigators. “The only thing to my defense was that she grabbed me and bit me.”
The state rested its case against Prichard this afternoon, and the defense will present its case next.
Original post:
The trial of a Mesquite man accused of beating and drowning his pit bull is set to begin this morning.
Prosecutors say Robert Prichard, 60, beat his dog, Candy, multiple times with a shovel and threw her into a swimming pool in August 2013.
Prichard gave police inconsistent accounts of what happened, according to an arrest affidavit.
In one of the accounts, he told police he attacked the dog in self defense after it damaged his patio furniture, the affidavit states.
If convicted, Prichard could receive up to 10 years in prison, according to the Dallas County district attorney’s office.
(Dallas News - Sept 3, 2014)
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