A 31-year-old Chisholm man faces a felony charge after allegedly stabbing his ex-girlfriend's dog to death last week.
Sethe Morey made his first appearance in Sixth Judicial District Court in Hibbing on Monday on a charge of torture or cruelty to a pet or companion animal. Morey, who faces up to four years in prison and up to a $10,000 fine if convicted, was assigned a public defender and scheduled to appear in court again on Thursday.
According to the criminal complaint:
Morey was arrested at about 4:45 p.m. last Thursday by Chisholm police officers who had been called to a residence on the 200 block of Second Avenue Northwest on a report that a man had stabbed a dog. Officers who arrived at the scene found Morey with his hands "covered in blood."
Morey was shirtless and his pants also featured a "large amount of blood on them" when he confessed to police to killing the dog while visiting the home of his ex-girlfriend and her children.
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Morey directed officers to the knife on a kitchen countertop and officers found the dog, a large brown pit bull, dead in a first-floor back bedroom.
Multiple witnesses in the home described how they suspected Morey was drunk and under the influence of methamphetamine when he allegedly targeted the dog with threats and aggressive behavior.
Morey refused to take a preliminary breath test, but told police he'd had a case of beer and a half bottle of rum, the complaint reported. The ex-girlfriend said Morey was at the home to collect the last of his things; the couple had been broken up for about a month, she told police investigators.
The ex-girlfriend also reported to police that Morey had been up for three days and "took out his frustration on her dog," the complaint reported.
Morey allegedly first got upset at the dog when it got in the way as Morey's ex-girlfriend and her daughter were making a bed upstairs.
Morey told police "the dog was mean; the dog would not get off the bed and would not listen," and did not belong around kids. He said he'd been bitten by the dog twice that day and that he'd reacted in self defense.
"When asked where it bit him, Morey stated that he did not know because he had been drinking and can't feel anything," the complaint reported. Morey told police he stabbed the dog in the throat "in the same place he would a human if they messed with him."
One witness said the dog "did nothing to provoke this to happen and that the dog was laying on the floor and was not a threat to anyone," the complaint stated.
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The same witness reported Morey had been agitating the dog and chased it downstairs, and that the dog was "cowering down near the kitchen table" before being stabbed.
After the alleged attack by Morey in the kitchen, the dog ran upstairs and down again, before expiring in a first-floor bedroom. There was evidence of the attack throughout the house.
Morey has a long history of committing misdemeanors in St. Louis County, including convictions for DUI, domestic assault and disorderly conduct.
Prosecutor Brian Simonson, an assistant St. Louis County attorney, said he could not say "anything beyond what I put into the complaint," but added there was "a lot determined by the [police] investigation."
Judge David Ackerson had previously set bail at $25,000 and on Monday ordered a supervised released study, the results of which could allow Morey to be monitored in the community while undergoing court proceedings.
