## Facts

- Dennis Stout’s girlfriend adopted a dog, Cody, from the Humane Society in June 1995.
- On December 3, 1995, Cody ran away; Stout and his girlfriend found Cody about a mile away at a park.
- To “teach the dog a lesson,” Stout attached Cody’s leash to the bumper of his pickup truck and dragged Cody behind the truck at approximately 20–25 mph.
- A neighbor saw the dog being pulled and contacted police; an officer responded and observed the truck accelerate from a stop, causing Cody to stumble and fall while trying to keep up.
- After stopping the truck, the officer observed Cody choking and bleeding substantially from all four paws.
- A veterinarian found the tough skin and pads on Cody’s front paws and the adjacent tough skin area had been completely scraped off, leaving exposed nerve endings; Cody’s back paws had large lesions with some nerve endings exposed.
- Cody required several weeks of treatment, recovered, and was later adopted.
- Stout was charged with class D felony animal abuse and, after a jury trial, was convicted and sentenced to six months in jail and a $3,000 fine.

## Issues

1. Whether the evidence was sufficient for a reasonable juror to find beyond a reasonable doubt that Stout’s conduct constituted “mutilation” under § 578.012.2(2), supporting felony animal abuse rather than misdemeanor animal abuse.

## Decision

- The Missouri Court of Appeals affirmed the conviction and sentence.
- Applying sufficiency review in the light most favorable to the verdict, the court held the evidence permitted a reasonable finding that Cody was “mutilated.”
- The extent of the injuries (complete scraping off of paw pads and exposure of nerve endings) and the intentional method (dragging behind a truck at speed for roughly a mile) supported the felony enhancement.

## Legal Principles

- On appellate review of sufficiency of the evidence, courts view the evidence and reasonable inferences in the light most favorable to the verdict and disregard contrary evidence and inferences.
- Under § 578.012, purposefully or intentionally causing injury or suffering to an animal constitutes misdemeanor animal abuse; the offense is elevated to a class D felony if the abuse results from “torture or mutilation.”
- A jury may infer “mutilation” from severe, destructive, or disfiguring injuries and the manner in which they were inflicted, including evidence showing removal or destruction of protective tissue and exposure of nerve endings.

## Conclusion

The court affirmed Stout’s felony animal-abuse conviction because the evidence showed intentional, extreme abuse—dragging the dog behind a truck at speed—resulting in severe paw injuries that a reasonable jury could classify as statutory “mutilation.”


State v. Stout, 958 S.W.2d 32 (Mo. Ct. App. 1997)