A trial date has been set for a Marne man facing a Reckless Use of a Firearm charge, in connection with the shooting of a dog which strayed onto his property. According to online court records, 56-year old Charles Collins Cutler has entered a plea of Not Guilty to the  Serious Misdemeanor offense. His trial on the matter is set to begin in Cass County District Court on April 9th, beginning at 9:30-a.m.  A separate hearing on a Aggravated Serious Misdemeanor charge of Animal Abuse is set to take place this (Thursday) afternoon.

The charges were filed following an incident which occurred December 24th, in Marne, when a Colorado woman’s dog was shot in Marne. A Cass County Sheriff’s deputy responding to the Atlantic Animal Health Center, spoke with 23-year old Stacy Ernat from Denver, CO, who reported her chocolate Labrador “Wrigley,” was playing with a relative’s dog in the church lot adjacent to the residence of Charles Collins Cutler. When the dog apparently strayed onto Cutler’s property, it was wounded by a shotgun blast fired from a distance of 30-to 40-feet.

Ernat brought her dog to the Atlantic Animal Health Center where it died. Ernat and another friend told the deputy they witnessed Cutler shoot the dog.