Judge orders competency testing in dog skinning case

By Liz McMahan
Phoenix Staff Writer

June 15, 2009 10:39 pm

— Competency testing was ordered Monday for two people to be charged with cruelty to animals in the death and skinning of a seven-week-old Jack Russell terrier.
Special District Judge Robin Adair set bond at $25,000 each for Austin Michael Mullins, 26, and Crystal Lewis, 23, who were arrested after the puppy’s pelt was nailed to a wall outside an apartment here.
Both are to appear again in Muskogee District Court at 3 p.m. today, when they are to be formally served with the charges against them, Adair ordered.
Adair said he was ordering they be tested for competency because of the nature of the charges.
District Attorney Larry Moore said that in his 22 years of association with prosecution, this was the most heinous animal cruelty case he has seen.
The puppy, “Poplin,” had been given to Lewis by a friend and after they had a “falling out,” said Muskogee County Sheriff Charles Pearson. The dog was taken to Hopeful Park, where it was shot 10 times with a .22-caliber gun, Pearson said.
The dog was later skinned in Muskogee and its hide nailed to a board and then affixed outside the apartment, officers said. Lewis told officers she planned to use the skin to make a belt buckle.

Reach Liz McMahan at 684-2926 or lmcmahan@muskogeephoenix.com.

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