Remaining charges dropped against Grayslake-area dog shooter

Lake County prosecutors on Tuesday dropped the remaining criminal charges against a Grayslake-area man sentenced to prison for shooting a dog.

Lake County Assistant State's Attorney Michael Mermel said he believed the 20-month term imposed on Elvin Dooley "took into account all the facts and circumstances of the charges against him."

Dooley, 57, was convicted in May of aggravated cruelty to animals for shooting a dog outside his home. The dog had run away from the nearby Save A Pet animal shelter.

The manager of the shelter, who was chasing the dog after it had been abandoned in the shelter parking lot, confronted Dooley as he fired a rifle from inside his home in the 24000 block of Townline Road.

In the process of arresting Dooley, sheriff's police confiscated 17 weapons from him and discovered he did not have a state Firearm Owner's Identification card.

Dooley was charged with unlawful possession of a weapon by a felon after police discovered he had been convicted of burglary in Alabama in 1978, as well as the state registration violation.

Mermel told Circuit Judge James Booras he believed the 20-month sentence imposed on the animal cruelty charge was sufficient punishment for all the offenses.

"We believe the court took into consideration the danger the defendant and his arsenal posed to the public in imposing the 20-month prison sentence," Mermel said. "Based on that, the state will not proceed on those other matters."

Assistant Public Defender Sharmila Manak asked Booras to reconsider the prison sentence handed down in the animal cruelty case.

"Every day, people who do harm to other people are given probation," Manak said.

Booras said he believed the sentence he had imposed was reasonable and just and said it would stand.

Manak then asked for a two-week furlough for her client, saying he wanted to get his belongings out of his house before a foreclosure order is issued on the property.

Dooley, who has been in custody since his arrest Jan. 26, told Booras he wanted time to move his belongings into storage before heading to prison.

Booras called the request "highly unusual," but granted it when Mermel did not object.

Dooley is scheduled to surrender to begin serving his prison sentence Sept. 7.