Wyoming Man Gets Prison for Killing Family Dog in Front of Kids
A man who killed the family dog in front is his children was sentenced Friday in Laramie County District Court to 18 to 36 months in prison.
According to an affidavit, Jason C. Wenner got into an altercation with his wife and stepdaughter at their Cheyenne home on Nov. 13, 2014, pushing the girl from behind after she declined to follow his request to go to bed.
The altercation escalated and Wenner grabbed a wooden stool and hit the family dog with it, causing the Shih Tzu named Harry Potter to urinate on himself, bleed from the nose and foam at the mouth. The dog died the next day.
Wenner's wife told police that the entire family witnessed the incident and that her three children were inconsolable.
Wenner was charged with three counts of child abuse-mental injury, unlawful contact-touch and cruelty to animals-resulting in death.
He pleaded guilty to the child abuse and animal cruelty charges in May 2015 as part of a plea agreement, and was sentenced in August 2015 to five years of probation.
In June 2018, the 34-year-old Wenner was arrested for violating the terms of his probation by having contact with the victim and an unapproved person. He admitted to the allegations in August.
The maximum sentence Wenner could have received was 17 years.