Angry animal lovers from across the country are demanding harsh punishment for two officers accused of killing a stray dog by using it for shooting practice.
Letters, faxes and telephone calls have poured in.Interim Police Chief Robert Williamson has personally answered more than 30 calls. "The fax machine has been going constantly. There's letters coming in. There's hate mail coming in," he said. "It's almost like a lynch mob mentality. That scares me."
Greg Trantham and John Over-street, who constitute half the police department in this village of 1,200 about 35 miles southeast of Houston, go to trial Monday. Both say they are innocent. They each face up to a year in jail and a $3,000 fine if convicted of animal cruelty charges.
The dispute began in April 1993, when Trantham, 27, and Over-street, 32, picked up a stray Lhasa apso.
Prosecutors say they used the dog for target practice, shooting off parts of the animal's body before killing it. Animal cruelty investigator Mary Shosty reported the officers after witnesses told her the officers bragged about killing the dog.
But Burt Springer, the officers' lawyer, said his clients did not kill the animal. He'll try to prove that prosecution witnesses invented the story.