The trial of a man accused of killing a neighbor’s dog has been postponed in St. Mary’s County District Court. Kenneth Woodburn, 29, of Leonardtown was scheduled to go to trial on Thursday, July 17 on charges of Aggravated Cruelty to Animal, Animal Cruelty, and Reckless Endangerment in the death of Tank, a pit bull/lab mix owned by a single mom and her daughter. After the dog was shot to death on March 12th Woodburn posed with the dead dog’s body on Facebook.

Assistant State’s Attorney Laura Caspar asked for the postponement in front of Judge Michelle Saunders of Calvert County. Caspar said in asking for the postponement that the case was being handled by her colleague Daniel White, who was in another courtroom at the time. Caspar said 13 witnesses had been called by the state and that the case would take about a half day to conclude.

Caspar noted that the state had made an unspecified offer to Woodburn but it had been rejected. Woodburn’s attorney Assistant Public Defender Makeba Gibbs confirmed that the offer had been rejected. Caspar said the offer had thus been withdrawn by the state.

The new trial date is Thursday, August 14 at 12:45 p.m.

The following is the St. Mary’s County Sheriff’s Department press release issued upon Woodburn’s arrest: “St. Mary’s County Corporal D. Corcoran responded to a residence on Point Lookout Road on March 13, in response to an animal cruelty complaint.

“The investigation revealed suspect Kenneth Allen Woodburn, 29, of Ridge, shot a neighbor’s dog on March 13, 2014 twice. The dog was allegedly not on Woodburn’s property when he fired the second shot, according to evidence gathered from witnesses. Furthermore, it was determined both shots were fired in the direction of a residential day care.

“After a thorough investigation was conducted, the case was reviewed by State’s Attorney’s Office personnel. As a result, charges against Woodburn were applied for by Detective Corporal M. Boyer from the Criminal Investigations Division and a criminal summons was issued. On April 20, 2014, Woodburn was charged with Aggravated Cruelty to Animal, Animal Cruelty, and Reckless Endangerment.”

Tank was the family pet of Richele Ince and had been purchased for her daughter’s fourth birthday. Tank had become a mascot of the nearby day care center that her daughter attended. Ince said that Tank “didn’t have a mean bone in his body” and just wanted to play with other dogs. Tank’s body was buried on the grounds of the day care center.

 

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