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[keporter]

Thursday, November 16, 2006 12:01 PM EST

Phillip Dunson says he had just cause to shoot and run over a stray cat that entered his home.

By Dennis Pelham

Daily Telegram Staff Writer

MORENCI — A Morenci man is preparing a self-defense response to a felony criminal charge for killing a stray cat he found inside his home last month.

Philip Dunson, 25, was arraigned Wednesday on a charge of killing or torturing animals in a complaint that alleges he killed a gray tiger cat without just cause on Oct. 17. Morenci police reported he shot the cat with a BB gun, turned two dogs on it and then ran it over in his driveway.

“There was just cause. There was very much a just cause,” said Dunson’s wife, Teresa Dunson.

The Dunsons have been warned by a doctor treating their seriously ill 3-year-old son that exposure to cat litter could be fatal to him. They said they were shocked to return home on Oct. 17 to discover a cat had somehow gotten inside and left feces and urine throughout the house.

Exposure to cat urine could trigger a reaction that would cause his son to suffocate within minutes, said Philip Dunson.

“We’ve been through too much for a stupid cat to hurt him,” Philip Dunson said. “That cat was just at the wrong place at the wrong time.”

His son’s condition has left his immune system so weak they have to constantly be on guard for anything that could send him back to a hospital for another long stay, he said.

Medical bills not covered by insurance are so high that Philip Dunson said he is working 15 hours a day at two jobs to try to keep up with them.

“We’ve been in the hospital more than out this year,” Teresa Dunson said. Their son spent last Christmas in the hospital during a 65-day stay, she said.

When a cat was found inside their home last month, Philip Dunson said he first tried to catch it or chase it outside. The cat spit and scratched at him when he approached it, he said, and went into a crawl space in his basement where he could not reach it.

He shot at it with a BB gun but said the air gun was not powerful enough to have any effect on it.

He got two dogs from another neighbor and released them into the crawl space, expecting they would chase the cat out or catch it.

The dogs instead killed the cat.

“It was pretty quick,” he said.

Philip Dunson admitted that what happened next was a mistake.

“I was thinking, whoever comes into my house and threatens anyone in my family, they’re not going to walk out,” he said.

He carried the dead cat to his driveway and ran over it with his car, he said, to send a message to the neighbor he believed owned it.

“That’s the only thing I did wrong in the whole deal was to run over the cat,” Philip Dunson said.

“I told the neighbor several times to keep the cat out of my property,” he said, and had explained to him the risk to his son’s health.

Teresa Dunson said her husband was acting out of anger and frustration when he drove over the cat to send a message to their neighbor.

“It was saying, ‘How dare your cat get in my house and threaten the life of my son,’ ” she said.

The reaction was clearly outside the law, said Morenci Police Chief Larry Weeks.

The neighbor called police after watching Philip Dunson throw the cat’s body into the street, Weeks said.

When an officer showed up at their door, Philip Dunson told him he first shot the cat then turned dogs loose on it. Weeks said the dogs “used the cat as a toy, essentially.”

The neighbor told police the cat did not belong to him, Weeks said, and it is not known who owned the animal.

“Mr. Dunson felt he had the lawful right to do what he did,” Weeks said. If he had called the police department first, Weeks said, he would have been told he could take the cat to a veterinary clinic to have it disposed of humanely.

“He would have been better off to take the time to ask a few questions then to do what he did,” Weeks said.

Teresa Dunson said she and her husband have been under a great deal of stress in caring for their son who was born with a congenital heart condition and other problems they have been told will eventually take the child’s life.

Philip Dunson said he was unable to explain that part of the story when the police officer interviewed him about the cat.

He was surprised Monday when he was served with a felony warrant and taken to jail in handcuffs. He was released on a personal recognizance bond the next morning.

“People are out selling drugs to kids, and they’re after me for trying to save my son’s life?” Philip Dunson said. “I thought it was ridiculous.”

The case is scheduled for a preliminary examination on Nov. 27. If convicted of the felony charge he could face up to four years in prison.

http://www.lenconnec...news/news01.txt

[keporter]

Cat killing bargained


Wednesday, November 29, 2006 9:39 AM EST

Paul Dunson was arrested on felony charges for shooting and running over a stray cat.

From staff reports

A guilty plea to a reduced misdemeanor animal cruelty count was taken Monday in Lenawee County District Court from a Morenci man arrested on a felony charge for killing a stray cat that got into his family’s home on Oct. 17. Paul Dunson, 25, remains free on bond while he awaits sentencing in January.

Dunson disputed an accusation in the felony charge the he killed the gray tiger cat without just cause. Exposure to a cat is a potentially fatal threat to his 3 1/2-year-old son who suffers a serious health condition, he said. He said he shot at the cat with a BB gun after it hide inside a crawl space in his basement. He said he then turned a neighbor’s dogs loose on the cat and they caught and killed it.

Dunson admitted he made a mistake in then running over the cat’s body in his driveway. He said he did it to send a message to a neighbor he believes owned the cat. Dunson said he had explained his son’s medical condition to the neighbor and asked him to keep the cat off his property.

The reduced misdemeanor count Dunson pleaded guilty to carries a maximum 93-day jail term. Defense attorney James Daly of Adrian said Dunson decided the plea bargain offered to him Monday was the best way to resolve the case over actions he regrets taking.

http://www.lenconnec...news/news05.txt