Mackley avoids more jail time after credit for 15 days already served
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EVANSTON — An Evanston man has been given a suspended sentence and probation after a jury found him guilty of shooting and killing his neighbor’s dog in front of the dog’s owner and her minor children.
Adam Mackley was found guilty of aggravated cruelty to animals and reckless endangering in early March and was subsequently sentenced to 6-18 months in jail for aggravated cruelty to animals and 180 days for the reckless endangering charge; however, both sentences were suspended in lieu of one year of supervised probation and credit for 15 days already served in the Uinta County Jail.
Court documents in the case indicate Mackley was charged as the result of an incident that occurred in late May 2019, when he shot and killed a neighbor’s dog — a boxer breed. The owner of the dog, Gaby Mendez, had just returned from walking the animal, when it escaped and ran toward Mackley’s dogs at his residence. Mendez’s two minor children and some of their friends were outside playing basketball at the time and attempted to get control of the dog, but it was fighting with Mackley’s dogs.
One of the minor children did ultimately grasp the dog’s leash and was attempting to get the dog away from Mackley’s dogs; however, Mackley reportedly came out of his residence with a .22 caliber Ruger pistol and shot the dog in the neck at point blank range. During the investigation, three different youths who witnessed the incident stated they saw Mackley shoot the dog and several also said the barrel of Mackley’s gun had been pointed toward nearby Davis Middle School at times during the incident. One of the youths reportedly said Mackley displayed no emotion and simply shot the animal and turned and walked back into his home.
Mackley reportedly told officers he had shot the dog because he needed to put an end to the fighting and protect his dogs and said it was the third time the Mendez’s dog had attacked his dogs.
Aggravated cruelty to animals is a felony that carries a maximum penalty of two years of imprisonment, while the reckless endangering charge is a misdemeanor with a maximum penalty of one year.
