Clovis man charged with extreme cruelty to animals

The Clovis man who fatally shot a dog he said was “aggressively barking” at his dogs has been charged with extreme cruelty to animals, court records show.

District Attorney Quentin Ray said Bradley Pearson faces a fourth-degree felony charge, punishable up to 18 months in jail and a $5,000 fine.

Ray said Pearson will be summoned to court to answer the charge.

Court records show Pearson told police on Nov. 1 that he shot a Labrador retriever after it barked at his dogs in the front yard and then in the alley behind his house. The dog, named Marley, was shot once in the neck before his owner had him put down.

Pearson could not be reached for comment.

Ray said last week it is mostly illegal to shoot an animal in the city limits, but there are exceptions to the law. Humanely destroying a sick or injured animal or protecting a person or animal from death or injury due to an attack by another animal, is under lawful justification.

The shooting happened in the 100 block of Zia Place, near the homes of Pearson and Marley’s owner, Feleena Stonelake.

Stonelake said Marley was known throughout the neighborhood where he played daily with her 6-year-old grandson Victor York and other boys and dogs in the area.

Victor did not witness the dog’s shooting, but Stonelake said he found him critically injured near a dumpster in the alley.

Pearson told police Marley barked at his dogs through a window in the front of his home, then through a gate in his back yard.