A Rogers Park man has pleaded guilty to beating his fiancée’s puppy to death in their apartment late last year. Charles Everett Smith, 34, plead guilty just six months after being charged, bringing the case to a relatively quick conclusion.
Judge Shelley Sutker-Dermer sentenced Smith to 2½ years in prison.
“Although no sentence will be high enough for Smith’s heinous crime, this is still a Victory for an animal abuse case,” the Garrido Stray Rescue Foundation said in a Facebook post after Smith’s sentencing hearing.
Smith’s girlfriend came home from work on November 2 and found Smith naked, giving chest compressions to her Miniature Pinscher puppy, Bailey, and shaking the dog, prosecutors said during his initial bond hearing.
The dog was dead and wrapped in a blanket when police found it. Smith told officers that he was giving the puppy CPR and blowing into her nose because she was experiencing a medical emergency, according to prosecutors.
A necropsy determined that the dog died due to blunt force trauma. According to prosecutors, nearly all of her ribs were broken, her lungs were damaged, and she suffered multiple skull fractures and intestinal injuries.
Smith’s girlfriend reportedly told police he mistreated another dog several months before the November incident.
“Bailey’s mom was also in court and delivered her witness statement. Everyone in the courtroom was crying, even the people who showed up for their own cases,” the rescue foundation’s Facebook post said. ” Bailey suffered a painful death and we cannot bring her back, but supporting cases like this one, brings awareness that these defenseless animals do have a voice and WE ARE THEIR VOICE.”
The group said prosecutors in the Cook County State’s Attorney’s Office, “fought hard with us and we thank them! The Judge could probably be less accommodating to the criminal, but overall, she gave him almost the maximum, given his clean record.”
Smith arrived at the Stateville Correctional Center in Joliet on Tuesday. His sentence will be reduced by 50% for good behavior and he will receive 198 days credit for time served, according to court records.
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