Howard Van Nostrand swears he was frightened for his life. “He was cornered by dogs when he was younger and didn’t want to take that chance again,” court documents said.
The dog’s owners, don’t think Van Nostrand was scared. They point out the chiropractor was safely in a tree stand, deer hunting when the two German Shepherds, Morgan and Zeus, came into the same area.
Van Nostrand killed Morgan with two arrows.
"It's not an accident. It was a calculated shot," the LeValleys claim. "Every shot with a bow is extremely calculated."
Text messages read during a court hearing show Van Nostrand blamed the dogs for ruining area hunting conditions. Fox5 reports in one text he told another hunter, "he had shot the dog and taken care of the problem."
Karen LaValley took the death very hard. “Everyone has that one dog that you are always very attached to and Morgan was that one dog.”
Van Nostrand faces charges of cruelty to animals and destruction of personal property greater than $1,000.