NANCY DRURY DUNCAN

DELMARVANOW CORRESPONDENT

An Accomack County jury found a Modest Town man guilty of felony animal cruelty in the shooting death of a neighbor's dog.

Samuel Howarth, 70, said he shot his neighbor’s dog, but said he did it in self defense.

In court testimony Thursday, March 23, Howarth said he was riding his bicycle down Hopeland Road last June when several dogs owned by Leslie Watson ran out and barked at him. He testified that the dogs attacked him viciously.

He said they grabbed his ankles, ripped the sole off his shoe and used such force that his bicycle, with him on it, was dragged to the side of the road. He said the dog that was the most vicious let go of him, and then was coming back for him.

He said he shot that dog with a .22 pistol he keeps on the frame of his bike.

Howarth's story was disputed by Elisabeth Miller, another neighbor, who said she witnessed to the entire incident from her car.

Miller testified she was less than 10 feet behind the defendant and his bicycle in a car as he went down the road. She said the dogs came out to the end of their driveway and barked at him, but never left Watson’s property.

“I saw his right arm pointed down and the dogs running down the driveway barking,” she said. “I saw a small white dog laying in the driveway.”

Miller said she stopped and asked Howarth what had happened.

“I shot him,” he answered. ”He bit me.”

Miller said she then saw a dog lying on the ground.

Miller testified the dogs made no contact at all with the man on the bicycle. She said he picked up the dead animal by the hind legs and tossed it aside.

On the witness stand, dog owner Leslie Watson said she heard a gunshot and left her barn and went out to see what was going on.

“I saw a commotion at the end of my driveway. Beth Miller was out of her car. She had her hands over her face, saying, “Oh my God, oh my God,” Watson said.

She said her 12-pound, year-old Jack Russell/rat terrier mix, Lovey, was lying dead in her driveway in a pool of blood.

"He grabbed Lovey by two hind legs and swung her onto the road,” she said.

Commonwealth’s Attorney Spencer Morgan questioned Accomack County Sheriff's Deputy Julian Sharp on the witness stand.

Sharp said he arrived several hours after the incident. He said Howarth told him about the attack and said he had been bitten on an earlier occasion.

In response to Morgan’s question, Sharp said he saw no sign of marks or bites on the defendant’s ankles or legs.

On the witness stand, Howarth said the attack was so violent he feared for his life. He called the attack “violent, extremely violent.”

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“The dog came up off the ground and was swinging like he was on a trapeze,” he told the jury. He said, in contrast to Miller’s testimony, that no one saw the attack.

“The dog was trying to eat me alive,” Howarth said.

Defense attorney Abraham Del Rio argued that the killing of the dog did not constitute animal cruelty.

“There is one big hole in the case. He did nothing other than shoot the dog,” he said. “He just had to defend his life.”

“This was a twelve-pound dog,” said Morgan. "There was no attack.”

The jury apparently agreed as they returned the guilty verdict in less than an hour.

In the sentencing phase, Morgan asked the jury to impose some jail time on the defendant. The jury did not do that. After 15 minutes of deliberation, the jury imposed a fine of $2,500 with no jail time.