Ukiah Cardiologist pleads guilty to unlawfully and maliciously killing one of his neighbor's dogs and maiming another dog

With potential jurors gathering in the basement of the Ukiah courthouse in response to jury summons, upstairs on the top floor of the building a trial defendant waived his right to the jury trial that was to begin Monday morning and withdrew his not guilty pleas and denials. In their stead, the defendant entered guilty pleas and an admission of wrongdoing.



Defendant Benjamin Hanna Meyer, age 67, of Potter Valley, plead guilty Monday morning to two separate counts of unlawfully and maliciously killing one of his neighbor's dogs, and unlawfully and maliciously maiming another, both counts as felonies. The defendant also admitted that he personally used a firearm in the commission of the attack.

The dogs were shot just outside the neighbor's residence while both dogs were confined in their separate doghouses inside locked pens. While nobody witnessed it and there was no physical evidence of any involvement by the dogs, the defendant thought it possible that the dogs had somehow contributed to the death of his horse found earlier trapped in a cattle guard on the neighbor's property.

The defendant was ordered to return to court for formal sentencing on June 12th at 9 o'clock in the morning in Department H of the Ukiah courthouse.

The prosecutor who has been handling this matter and prepared the case for trial is Assistant District Attorney Dale P. Trigg. The investigating law enforcement agencies were the Mendocino County Sheriff's Office and the District Attorney's own investigators.

Mendocino County Superior Court Judge John Behnke accepted the defendant's guilty pleas and the firearm use admission Monday morning. Judge Behnke will be the sentencing judge on the 12th.