Trial set for central Illinois man accused of animal cruelty

ILLINOIS -- For four days Stephen Coker had been “acting strange” and setting nerves on edge in the Delavan home where old family friends had invited him to live last spring.

On the fifth day, they said, he stomped one of their young puppies to death and badly injured another.

Coker, 48, will face those allegations on Tuesday, when he’s scheduled to stand trial on two felony charges that could return him to prison if he’s convicted.

He told a judge this week he’s ready to face a jury, which would be expected to view photographs as evidence of the fatal injuries he inflicted on a 10-week-old mixed terrier - pinscher pup that Barbara Mibbs’ family said they couldn’t rescue from him.

It was Mibbs’ favorite among the four puppies, all under 3 months old, that remained in their home last May 4 from two litters their grown pets had produced. She planned to keep it, she said.

Coker, who was a childhood friend of Mibbs’ son Henry, didn’t reveal why he allegedly went berserk on the puppy he killed and a second on which he inflicted internal injuries before Henry, who was recovering from a broken leg, managed to rescue.

“He’d been acting strange” over the previous several days, Mibbs said. “He said he wanted to go home,” but he had none of his own.

Coker had recently been released from a 10-year prison term he received in 2007 for residential arson and aggravated domestic battery. Mibbs speculated Coker meant he wanted to return to prison.

Henry Mibbs was napping on a couch when he awoke to sounds of yelping, according to a prosecutor’s court affidavit. He discovered Coker “strangling and shaking” one of the puppies. Henry grabbed it away, but Coker grabbed it back, threw it to the floor and crushed its skull with his boot, the affidavit stated.

While Henry’s son Joel came and picked up two of the three remaining puppies, Henry grabbed the third, which appeared injured, and limped outside. Coker followed him and kicked away the cell phone Henry was using to dial 911, the affidavit stated. He refused Coker’s demand to hand over the injured puppy.

A police officer arrived a short time later to find Henry still holding the rescued puppy while he and his son exchanged heated words with Coker. The puppy was taken to a veterinary clinic where internal injuries were diagnosed.

Coker has remained in custody since his arrest that day on two charges of aggravated cruelty to a companion animal. Each of the Class 4 felonies carries a maximum 3-year prison term.

(Pekin Times - Nov 28, 2014)