Man Who Went to Dog's Defense Now Faces Felony Charges
By Doug Grow
Originally published in the Star Tribune, April 23, 2001
If a dog is man's best friend, what can a man reasonably do to protect a dog's life?
Consider the case of a Dakota County man, John Christoffel, who is facing a felony charge because of actions he took in trying to defend a dog that was being bludgeoned to death by a man with a sledgehammer.
Animal rights activists have embraced Christoffel, 19, for actions he took Dec. 17. But the Dakota County attorney's office doesn't see Christoffel as heroic. It has charged him with making terroristic threats, while holding a .22 caliber rifle. Meantime, the man who killed the dog has been charged with a misdemeanor, cruelty to animals.
"Sometimes, the law seems perverted," said Larry Leventhal, Christoffel's attorney. "Look at the comparative wrongs in this case. One is facing time in prison for trying to protect the life of a friend. And one receives no more than a traffic ticket for this killing, a murder really."
A bill pending in the current legislative session would make some animal cruelty offenses felonies.
At the time of the incident, Christoffel was living with his mother, Linda Christoffel, in Inver Grove Heights. He was a friend of a neighbor and the neighbor's dog, Precious, a two-year-old German shepard/husky mix. Last December, Precious' owner died and the dog was temporarily left in the care of the late owner's fiancee, who continued to reside next door to the Christoffels. Though it was living with the fiancee, the dog legally had become property of the late man's father.
On Dec. 17, the dog showed up at the Christoffels' house with a cut paw. Paddy Theis, Linda Christoffel's fiance, called the late owner's father, telling him the dog was hurt. The man assured Theis that he would take care of Precious and sent a family member to deal with the dog.
The man sent to care for Precious, apparently on his own, decided the best way to solve the paw problem was to kill the dog. He took the dog to the late owner's garage and, he told police, covered its head with a plastic bag and started swinging the sledge.
"I took it upon myself because my father-in-law's been talking about bringing it to the humane society to have the dog put away," the man told Inver Grove Heights police. "… I just figured, hey, this is the cheapest way out."
The fiancee of the late dog owner heard what was happening to Precious, unsuccessfully tried to get the man to stop and raced to the Christoffels' house. When they heard the horror story, Theis, followed by John Christoffel, raced next door, hoping to rescue Precious. Harsh words were exchanged and, according to Theis and Christoffel, the man with the sledgehammer made threatening gestures toward them.
Christoffel ran back to his home, yelling at the man with the sledge and telling him that police were going to be called. Police were called but before they arrived, Christoffel returned with his rifle and says he told the man "You want to play games, we'll play games."
The man with the sledge claims that Christoffel also threatened him with large hunting knives, a charge Christoffel denied.
In retrospect, Christoffel, who has no criminal record, regrets bringing a rifle into the chaos.
"I know that pulling out a gun is pretty serious," he said. "I regret that, but I just couldn't believe what was happening."
Leventhal is preparing motions to have the case against Christoffel dismissed for a variety of technical reasons. To date, pretrial hearings have been delayed twice and the Dakota County attorney has dropped a threat to add two felony assault charges against Christoffel.
But that one felony charge hangs over Christoffel's head and stirs the passions of animal lovers.
Leventhal wrote in a letter to me that, if this case goes to trial he will be going where few, if any, lawyers have gone before.
"Christoffel intends to defend this matter on the basis that he acted reasonably, and that he had a right to use necessary force in defense of another," Leventhal wrote. "While we have not located cases that allow the use of weapons to defend a dog, we believe that this well-recognized doctrine should be expanded to include such reasonable conduct. Precious was not only a neighborhood dog, she was a friend of John's, and John acted to protect her life."
