Skamania County prosecutors will file animal cruelty charges against the Stevenson man accused of building an explosive device and detonating it on his dog.
Prosecutors did not include animal cruelty among Christopher W. Dillingham’s charges during his first court appearance Monday. They continued researching case law and the state’s animal cruelty statutes.
Dillingham faces the new charges at his next court appearance on Aug. 15.
“While we understand the reaction of the public to the horrific manner in which the dog died, we felt the initial delay in filing the animal cruelty charges was necessary to research the law and determine whether the factual allegations met the specific elements of the animal cruelty statute,” said Skamania County Prosecutor Adam Kick in a news release. ” Part of taking crime seriously is taking the time to make good, considered charging decisions. That’s what we did here.”
