The defendants charged with felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, 32-year-old Francisco Pultarco Flores, 27-year-old Luis Hernandez Mendoza and 25-year-old Hector C. Mendoza, had preliminary hearings scheduled Wednesday in General Sessions Court.
The men waived their hearings, and evidence in the case will be presented to a Greene County grand jury. Judge Kenneth Bailey Jr. set Nov. 30 Criminal Court appearance dates for Flores and the Mendozas.
In addition to aggravated cruelty to animals, the men are also charged with vandalism over $500 and theft over $500 in connection with the case.
Bailey told citizens who came to court looking for punishment for the defendants that the earliest Flores and the Mendozas will go to trial would be January 2017.
The information was relayed to the defendants through interpreters.
The attack on the 7-year-old German shepherd happened Aug. 14 inside the men's apartment in the 7900 block of Asheville Highway. It was interrupted by sheriff's deputies investigating a drunk and disorderly call. Deputies arrived just in time to save the dog's life, Greeneville-Greene County Humane Society representatives said.
Smokey is back at home with his owners, Elaine and Lester Darnell, and his wounds are healing, the couple said Wednesday outside the courtroom.
The three defendants are not U.S. citizens. Their status in this country is being investigated by immigration officials, Sheriff Pat Hankins said.
Update: Confirmed they are all three Mexican illegal aliens.
It's still not known why the dog was attacked in a bathroom in the apartment where the men lived.
"I think it's just sickening that anybody would be that cruel to an animal. I don't understand why anybody would do that," Hankins said.
ATTACK ON DOG
Smokey lives on White Sands Road with the Darnells. When a thunderstorm blew in on the night of Aug. 14, they were not home. Elaine Darnell said she and her husband returned to put Smokey inside the house because he is afraid of storms, but the dog had already jumped a fenced-in enclosure.
Smokey apparently ran about a quarter-mile to the 7900 block of Asheville Highway, where he encountered Flores and the Mendozas.
As deputies entered the apartment, they saw the three men in a rear bathroom, a report said.
When deputies opened a bedroom door, the three men turned toward them and a "shepherd- to medium-size dog came running from the bathtub," the report stated.
The dog "had several cuts and punctures about its body," the report said.
"One of the males was holding a bloody knife and the other was holding a long wooden stick, both being stained with blood," it added.
Smokey had several cuts and punctures to his body. He had been beaten, stabbed repeatedly in the face, neck and body while trapped in the bathroom with the three men.
Blood was all over the floor of the apartment’s bathroom - it looked like a murder scene.
According to sheriff's department, the theft charge relates to the men "taking control" of the 7-year-old dog, which is valued at more than $500 and is the property of the Darnells, who have been nursing him back to health with the help of Dr. Hope Fann, the veterinarian who has been treating Smokey since the night of Aug. 14.
The vandalism charge relates to the physical damage done to the dog.
ANIMAL ADVOCATES
At least 10 people were in the courtroom Wednesday afternoon to urge the court to prosecute Flores and the Mendozas to the full extent of the law. Bailey explained that since the men are charged with felonies, they could not enter guilty pleas in General Sessions Court. The charges will be resolved in Criminal Court after evidence is presented to a grand jury.
The Darnells and Fann were among those in the courtroom.
Elaine Darnell said she and her husband will let the legal system run its course.
"The officer explained how this works and that they waived their rights (to a preliminary hearing) so we kind of expected it," she said.
Smokey's stitches were removed Monday "and some of his hair is growing back," Darnell said.
After he was injured, Smokey had drainage tubes placed in his head and neck area, along with stitches applied to close multiple lacerations and cuts.
"Smokey seems to be doing well physically from his check-up appointment," Fann said.
Several Humane Society representatives were also in court, including Amy Bowman, shelter manager who took Smokey to the Greene County Veterinary Medical Center where he was treated by Fann the night he was wounded.
'JUSTICE FOR SMOKEY'
"The main thing is we just want justice for Smokey and hopefully we will get that in January," Bowman said after the court proceeding.
Bowman was appreciative that members of the community attended the court hearing. Among them was Gypsy Tweed, who circulated a petition on Change.org signed by more than 3,000 people asking that the defendants "be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law."
"I'm not a huge rabble-rouser but I have two (rescue) greyhounds and to me, it was just blatant, brutal and horrible. It was just ill intent and mean to go to all the effort to get somebody else's dog," Tweed said. "If you get them deported, you don't know if they will serve their time and I want them to serve their time here."
Prosecutors said Flores and the Mendozas would remain in the U.S. at least until the legal process is complete.
Meanwhile, the men remain held on $17,000 bond each in the Greene County Detention Center, where they likely will remain until their cases are resolved.
(Greenville Sun - Sept 1, 2016)
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