Blind Man Accused Of Killing Dog Pleads Not Guilty

nbc10 ^

[chance33_98]

Man Accused Of Killing Dog Pleads Not Guilty
Police Say Blind Man Kicked Dog To Death

POSTED: 5:01 p.m. EDT July 3, 2002 UPDATED: 5:13 p.m. EDT July 3, 2002

NORRISTOWN, Pa. -- A blind Lansdale man accused of kicking his guide dog to death in February has pleaded not guilty and is headed to court in Montgomery County on Wednesday.

Craig S. Miller, 42, waived his arraignment in April.

Police said they responded to Miller's home on Feb. 8 and found him trying to resuscitate the dog. Miller and the dog were covered in blood, police said.

A necropsy indicated that the dog died from multiple blunt-force trauma. The dog's injuries included a ruptured spleen and a broken eye socket.

Miller told officers that he kicked the dog because he was having trouble working with it, police said.

Attempts to reach Miller's attorney, Nino V. Tinary, were unsuccessful.

Miller is charged with cruelty to animals and disorderly conduct.

[chance33_98]

Sick freak of the day (well, one of em anyway)

[Azrael]

I live in the area. I met the dog once and he was so sweet and beautiful and would actually smile at you when you pet him. I believe that the dog's name was Inky. This bastard beat this nice dog to death. The dog was trained to be a seeing eye dog, and thus would not run away from its master-so Inky just stood there and was beaten to death.

[chance33_98]

Let's hope the next dog he meets is a pi$$ed off pit bull.

[OldPossum]

The only good things that could come of this is that this low-life goes to jail, and when he comes out he will never be assigned another sight companion. He can then find his way around by his lonesome.

These dogs are expensive to train and are in high demand. They deserve to be in the care of those who appreciate their most valuable services.

[NautiNurse]

IIRC, it's about $20,000 to train one of these dogs. I can only dream this nasty man has enough assets to pay something in that range as a fine. Then he can be lonely and blind for the rest of his days.

[kaylar]

I'm glad the prosecutors are not going to go easy on this POS because he's a "poor, pitiful blind man who's suffered enough in life". That poor dog! This does not excuse the POS, but I wonder if he did not go blind fairly recently, rather than being blind from birth? His vicious assault on the dog may have been caused by his rage over the loss of what most consider the most important of the 5 senses. An emotional breakdown/snapping, rather than sheer meanness. But in any case, the law needs to take its course ; he can go to anger management classes behind bars just as easily.

[DonQ]

Although this seems inexcusable behavior, I know that guide dogs occasionally deserve some sort of discipline, and that it's not so easy for the blind owner to administer it efficiently or effectively. Once I saw a bling neighbor having to discipline his guide dog; he had taken it outside and was swatting it with a rolled up newspaper (I don't know where he got the paper) and was, as you might guess, swinging blindly, sometimes missing the dog and sometimes hitting it dead-on probably more forcefully than intended.

[TheBattman]

Thinking about the cost, testing, training, time, etc. that goes into building a guide dog.

So they guy is having a bad day, join the world. The dog is having a less than stellar day too, so you kick the hell out of the dog, repeatedly? This SOB would probably do the same to a human helper if given a chance.

Of course, this guy will want public assistance to get another guide dog, as he can't function without one.....