Puppy killer who smashed pet’s skull says he’s sorry. Judge tells him he needs help.
The picture of the dead puppy was so disturbing the judge wouldn't touch it when a lawyer held it up for the judge to see.
The 10-week-old dog had been hurled against the walls of a house, the thuds so loud that a woman who was on her porch next door heard the booms. The woman looked up in time to see the animal sail out a front door onto a sidewalk, its skull so shattered that a policeman would later say it felt “like eggshells.”
A young man named Derrick D. Chappell came out after it. He had a knife and he stabbed the dead-or-dying pup until the neighbor screamed.
Details of the dog’s demise on June 3, 2015, emerged in Bibb County Superior Court on Monday when Chappell pleaded guilty to aggravated animal cruelty.
Chappell, who was 22 at the time, had been living with an aunt on Florence Avenue, just below Eisenhower Parkway and west of Second Street in Macon.
He and his aunt, who owned the puppy, had argued when his aunt asked him to clean up after it, prosecutors said. Chappell, enraged, began throwing the dog against the walls so hard that its jaws and eye sockets cracked.
Chappell, now 25 and with no known criminal past save for a misdemeanor marijuana-possession charge, faced as much as five years in prison. In court on Monday, he stood before Judge Verda M. Colvin and read his apology.
“Me doing this,” Chappell began, “was the biggest mistake of my life. Since then I have fought hard to stay on the right path. It brings a lot of pain to my heart seeing my parents go through this. I’m truly sorry for what happened, and I’m asking for a second opportunity to show my parents and the rest of the world that I’m not a danger to society.”
His mother and father sat behind him maybe 20 feet away, their heads bowed.
Chappell’s lawyer said Chappell’s rage in attacking the puppy may have stemmed from concussions he suffered playing high school football.
When it came time to sentence Chappell, Judge Colvin lectured him and ordered him to get help.
“To treat a puppy that way, that scares me for you, young man. … Something’s going on in you that you can’t control to have anger that much,” the judge said.
Colvin sentenced Chappell to three years in a prison with a hospital — a place where he can undergo treatment for whatever underlying problems he may have — and then to serve two more years on probation.
“You caused the death of an animal,” the judge told him. “And in a civilized society, the soul of individuals is judged by how they treat the weakest. … The weakest in our society have always been children, elderly and animals. … This is outside the realm of normalcy. This is outside the realm of what someone with humanity would do.”
Colvin went on, telling Chappell that pets are a source of joy.
“The only time they don’t bring people joy is when people have mistreated them and taught them to be evil and cruel,” Colvin said. “I would submit to you, animals are the better creatures among all of us.”
Chappel, who had been free on bond until Monday's hearing, nodded.
“I know,” he said.
He asked to hug his parents goodbye, but he wasn’t allowed.
“I love you,” he told them as he was led away in handcuffs.
This story was originally published March 19, 2018 at 5:01 PM with the headline "Puppy killer who smashed pet’s skull says he’s sorry. Judge tells him he needs help.."