Guns issue settled in dog-shooting case; now to pick jury

Jury selection is scheduled to begin today in the case of a Grayslake-area man charged with shooting to death a dog that had escaped from a nearby animal shelter.

Elvin Dooley, 57, faces up to three years in prison if convicted of animal cruelty and animal torture in what could be the first of three trials based on the events of Jan. 26.

A small black dog that had run away from an animal shelter near Dooley's house on the 24000 block of Townline Road died from a single gunshot wound to the neck as a shelter employee attempted to chase it down.

Lawyers on the case spent Monday clashing over previous rulings on evidentiary matters and on which judge should hear the case.

The case was assigned to Circuit Judge James Booras for trial, after several pretrial proceedings that had taken place before Associate Judge Theodore Potkonjak.

Assistant public defenders LaTonya Burton and Sharmila Manak told Booras that Potkonjak had told prosecutors only one of the 17 guns police said Dooley possessed on the day of the shooting would be allowed to be put before the jury at trial.

The attorneys claimed Potkonjak had ruled that to allow all the weapons to be placed into evidence would inflame the jury and prejudice it against a man accused of shooting a dog.

But on Monday, Assistant State's Attorney Michael Mermel told Booras he believed Potkonjak had unfairly restricted his right to present evidence without holding a formal hearing on the matter.

Mermel said he did not intend to bring all 17 weapons into the courtroom, but instead wanted to display only those weapons seized from Dooley that most likely could have been used to commit the crime.

A witness to the shooting said she saw Dooley aiming a rifle with a telescopic sight mounted on it at the dog, Mermel said, and a doctor who examined the dog said the bullet that killed the dog was a small-caliber projectile, perhaps a .22-caliber.

Mermel said he wanted to introduce four weapons as evidence in the trial, two scope-mounted rifles and two .22-caliber rifles that could have been outfitted with scopes when the dog was shot.

Although Burton and Manak argued Potkonjak's original ruling should govern the evidence at the trial, Booras said he would allow Mermel to place three of the weapons before the jury.

Booras said both rifles mounted with scopes could be used at the trial, and that Mermel could pick one of the .22-caliber rifles to use as an example of a rifle that could have been mounted with a scope and been used to commit the crime.

Burton and Manak then moved to have another judge assigned to the case because Booras had demonstrated prejudice against their client, and the case was sent to Circuit Judge Fred Foreman for a hearing. After hearing arguments from both sides, Foreman ruled that simply ruling against a defense motion was not enough to establish prejudice, and sent the case back to Booras.

Dooley also faces a trial on the charge of unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon, as prosecutors claim he was convicted of burglary in Alabama in 1978.

He is also accused of possession of a weapon without a state firearm owner's identification card and could also stand trial on that charge.