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Marley liked to chase the nutria that had overrun Priscilla Bush's Southeast Portland yard.
(Courtesy of Angela Lewis)
Michael Robert Hutchinson, 60, so lovingly cared about the nutria that prospered next to his Southeast Portland trailer that he’d regularly feed them bread and other scraps of food.
He told Portland police that when a neighbor's dog chased a young nutria into a hole, he was so mad at the dog that he shot the tan-and-white terrier mix with a single .177-caliber pellet from his pellet gun. Seconds later, the dog staggered back into its distraught owner's yard before collapsing and dying in her arms from a wound to the belly.
The dog, named Marley, was one year old.
Tuesday, Hutchinson pleaded no contest to felony first-degree aggravated animal abuse and misdemeanor possession of a loaded firearm in public. He was sentenced to 15 days in jail and three years of probation.
Hutchinson, who has considerably cut back his large beard since his arrest, wore a collared shirt tucked into slacks as he appeared in the Multnomah County Circuit Court of Judge John Wittmayer. Upon arrival, he looked overcome with nerves as he took a seat at the counsel table.
“Are you all right?” asked his defense attorney, Jonathan Sarre. “Take a breath.”
“Yeah,” Hutchinson said.
Marley’s owner, Priscilla Bush, didn’t attend the hearing. But she recounted the story to The Oregonian a day after the Jan. 23 incident.
Bush said she had run outside just in time to see Marley hobble up to her and drop to his side. Marley had made a pastime of chasing the large rodents out of Bush’s Southeast Harney Street house, so Bush first suspected Marley had been bitten. Then she saw the hole in the side of his belly.
"I was screaming and crying, you know,” she said. “He was yelping, then went silent and just made one last groan at me. Then he just lay there and died. He basically died in my arms. I just couldn't believe what happened.''
Bush called 911. Hutchinson told police not only was he mad at the dog for chasing the nutria, but that the dog came at him. Police determined that Hutchinson shot the 14-pound dog from about 24 feet away.
On Tuesday, Hutchinson told the judge: “I’m sorry ... that I killed this dog.”
Deputy District Attorney Nicole Jergovic said her office was willing to agree to a plea deal with Hutchinson although he has a particularly concerning criminal history. Jergovic described it as “serious, but old.”
Hutchinson was convicted of first-degree sodomy in 1981. He also was convicted of third-degree robbery in 1974, prostitution in 1979 and aggravated assault in 1988.
Sarre, the defense attorney, said his client is in the process of moving, which will make it easier to abide by a no-contact order with Bush. Sarre noted that Hutchinson, however, has been out of jail for more than seven months since his arrest and has refrained from any contact with Bush.
Hutchinson has “some health issues” and lives off of less than $700 a month in Social Security disability income, Sarre said. Paying Bush a $233 fine will be challenging, but he plans to do it over the course of months, Sarre said.
The judge also sentenced Hutchinson to 24 hours of community service, animal-empathy counseling and a ban on owning animals for at least five years. Hutchinson's gun will be confiscated and destroyed.
-- Aimee Green