DOG BLOG - Part 2

Defendant in "Little Brown Dog" dragging case to testify

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KNOXVILLE — The fate of a Knoxville man accused of dragging his then-girlfriend’s dog behind his truck is now in the hands of a Knox County jury.

Jurors in Criminal Court will deliberate this afternoon whether Jimmy Lovell, 47, is guilty of aggravated animal cruelty in the November 2009 dragging of a 17-pound terrier mix later dubbed “Little Brown Dog.” The case captured the attention of animal lovers throughout the region who coughed up $13,000 for the female dog’s care and even created a Facebook page in honor of the pooch.

But the case turns, not on whether it was Lovell behind the wheel, but whether Lovell intended to drag the dog, which was owned by Lovell’s then-girlfriend, Tonya Eubanks

Jurors today got a closer look at the man cast as the villain in the saga of the Little Brown Dog via testimony from a businessman in his neighborhood and Lovell himself.

Lovell told jurors he dropped out of school in the ninth grade and has suffered a series of head traumas that impacted his mental capacity. Despite that, Lovell has always managed to earn a living, businessman Asa Hobbs said.

“He did whatever he could to make a living,” Hobbs said. “He did a good job of it. He’s a good member of the community.”

Hobbs was with Lovell on the day of the dragging when Lovell returned to his Pilkay Road home to gather tools to fix a friend’s vehicle in hopes of earning money to repair his own truck. Eubanks had left the dog, which she had brought to Lovell’s home a few days before, inside the house while she went with a friend to the hospital, according to testimony.

“I brung (sic) him outside,” Lovell testified. “I had him on a leash. It’s about six feet (long). I was letting (the dog) use the restroom.”

Hobbs said Lovell turned the pooch over to him so Lovell could finish rounding up tools.

“He asked me to walk the dog so he could get his stuff,” Hobbs testified. “He was running in and out of the house.”

When Lovell asked Hobbs to take a look at his truck’s engine, Hobbs said he tried to secure the leash to a fence pole, but it wouldn’t stay attached.

“We just laid (the leash handle) on the (ball hitch) of the truck,” Hobbs said. “The dog just laid down and we went up (to the) front (of the truck).”

Lovell later received a phone inside his house from his friend, who urged Lovell to hurry to the garage where Lovell would repair his friend’s vehicle, both men said. Lovell said his friend assured him he would have enough money to pay Lovell, who had been set to borrow cash for his own truck repairs from Hobbs.

“(Lovell) said, ‘I’ve got it all worked out,’ ” Hobbs said.

By then, both men had forgotten the dog, each testified. Defense attorney Mike Whalen showed photographs of Lovell’s house and the position of Lovell’s truck to argue Lovell could not have seen the rear of the truck as he exited his house and got into the cab.

Lovell said he was stopped at a stop sign at the intersection of Knott Road and Liberty Street when he first heard people yelling. He said he wasn’t sure at whom they were yelling. He turned onto Liberty Street and began to realize the bystanders were “hollering at me,” Lovell testified.

“They was hollering at me to stop, and I said, ‘Oh, God! I forgot the dog,’ ” Lovell testified.

It was what he did — or didn’t do — next that Assistant District Attorney General Debbie Malone argues shows his intent to harm the animal. Her witnesses — the angry bystanders — testified Lovell stopped the truck, walked to the rear bumper, “jerked the dog up by the leash” and tossed it into the passenger side of the truck before driving away.

Lovell denied casually tossing the dog into his truck, and Whalen argued that if Lovell had no regard for the animal, he would have pitched it into the truck bed.

Lovell concedes he did not seek medical attention for the dog. He said he had no money to do so. Instead, he took it home, he said, wrapped it in a towel, called Hobbs for advice and left the dog behind as he spent the next 20 minutes at his friend’s house. He said he did not realize the extent of the dog’s injuries. When he returned home, Eubanks arrived a short time later.

“She left with the dog and said she’d take care of it,” he said.

Testimony on Tuesday showed Eubanks took the dog to an animal shelter, lied about finding the dog abandoned on the side of the road and gave a fake name.

More details as they develop online and in Thursday’s News Sentinel.

Article source: http://www.knoxnews.com/news/2012/feb/22/defendant-in-little-brown-dog-dragging-case-to/

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Defendant in "Little Brown Dog" dragging case to testify

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