Injustice in Florida: After choking Schnauzer Sheltie mix Emmit and then chopping off his head, Jerry Sullivan, 46, gets probation

FLORIDA -- A Greene County Judge sentenced a Jasonville man to one-year probation and four months home detention last week for cutting his dog's head off with an ax and tossed the body along a county road on Sept. 14.

46-year-old Jerry Sullivan plead guilty to animal cruelty charges.

Jasonville police arrested Sullivan, October 2 after a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Police learned about the dog after they were called by a woman on September 14 to assist her getting her personally belongings from a home she shared with Sullivan in the 420 block of North Park Street in Jasonville. The woman told police she needed their assistance because she feared for her life.

The woman told police the night before that she and Sullivan had been bathing the couple's Sheltie/Schnauzer mixed breed dog and while cutting some tangles out of the dog's fur the dog yelped, turned and snapped at them. That made Sullivan angry. The dog got away and Sullivan began chasing the dog around the house with an iron pipe trying to hit the dog.

Sullivan finally caught the dog, put a leash around the dog's neck and began choking it. He then told the woman to take the dog outside and put it on a chain.

In the commotion, Sullivan's German Shepherd dog ran out the door and took off, which angered him more and yelled if he didn't find the Shepherd he was going to kill the other dog, Emmit.

According to the probable cause affidavit, the couple searched for the Shepherd but were unable to find it. After returning home between 1 a.m. to 2 a.m. That is when Sullivan took an ax outside and then came back inside covered in blood. He had chopped Emmit's head off.

Sullivan was interviewed at the police station, where he first denied killing the dog. But then allegedly broke down saying "I killed the dog! I killed the dog, the dog bit me, I have anger problems and I killed the dog!"

Sullivan then took police back to his home where police recovered the bloody axe with fur on it. Sullivan then took police to where he disposed the decapitated dog along a county road just north of his home.

Sullivan was arrested, but was released a short time later after posting a $400 cash bond.

(WBIW - Dec 22, 2015)