By Guillermo Contreras
An ex-cop and war vet was sentenced Friday to
18 months in a state jail for animal cruelty — shooting and stabbing the family
dog.
Robert Smotherman, 41, claimed
the dog, a mastiff-boxer mix named Whiskey, was aggressive and bit him. So in
August 2012 he decided to put him down to protect his family, he said.
When the dog — who had been
adopted from a pound in New Mexico — did not die with one shot from
Smotherman’s .40-caliber gun, he shot the pet again then stabbed him to put him
out of his misery, defense attorney Charles Bunk argued Friday.
“It did not go as he had hoped
or liked, but it was certainly not anything other than he tried to put this dog
down,” Bunk told State District Judge Mary Roman as he asked for probation or
deferred adjudication for Smotherman. “The way it happened is something he
regrets. It’s not something reflective of him as a husband, a man, a father or
as a soldier.”
Bunk said Smotherman served in
Afghanistan and Iraq and was honorably discharged and later became a reservist.
His court file also said he served as a law enforcement officer for two
agencies in Oklahoma, but it does not specify where, and Bunk did not know
details.
Smotherman pleaded no contest
in September to the cruelty to a non-livestock animal/torture charge.
Prosecutor Christopher Karl
asked Friday for an 18-month sentence and countered that “this was not an
instance of a mercy killing.”
“This is an instance of rage,
an instance of (Smotherman) losing his top,” Karl argued.
Karl said Smotherman hit
Whiskey and the dog tried to bite him back, though Smotherman had no apparent
injuries when examined.
A neighbor called 911 when she
heard shots from Smotherman’s far West Bexar County home, fearing he might
shoot toward her home.
When the first deputy arrived,
he heard one of the shots and saw Smotherman standing over the dog. The animal
had a large gash on his throat and was bleeding profusely, but he wagged his
tail when a deputy approached, according to a police report. A bloody 8-inch
hunting knife with a “gut hook” was sticking out of the ground, and
investigators learned Smotherman stabbed Whiskey with it.
Karl said the dog was friendly,
not aggressive, toward deputies and animal control officers, who later
euthanized it. One of Smotherman’s sons told deputies his dad was angry at the
dog, asking the boy to retrieve his gun, because Whiskey made holes in the
yard, the police report said.
“I think everything points to
this is a man who is hot-headed,” Karl told the judge.
Roman commended Smotherman for
his service, but also chastised him.
“The description of the dog’s
injuries were atrocious,” Roman said. “I understand you were trying to put down
an animal, and you certainly can do that, but there’s a right way to do it.”
The judge also ordered a $1,500
fine and told Smotherman to pay restitution to Animal Care Services. He broke
down in tears when the judge ordered him into custody immediately.
