Jury finds Modesto man guilty of killing girlfriend’s dog
A Modesto man has been convicted of killing the dog he shared with his girlfriend, according to the Stanislaus County District Attorney’s Office. The crime was committed at her home while the woman was at work.
Roneil Prasad’s girlfriend returned home to her Prescott Road apartment the evening of March 19 to find Prasad intoxicated and the dog missing, Modesto police told The Bee at the time of the incident.
She eventually found the body of the dog, a miniature schnauzer named Roscoe, inside a cardboard box by the front door, according to a press release from the District Attorney’s Office.
Officers found Prasad, 39, asleep on the living room couch. There were bloodstains on his clothes and traces of blood splatter throughout the apartment and patio area, according to the press release.
A postmortem examination of Roscoe’s body showed he’d sustained a large brain hemorrhage, hemorrhages to the left and right abdomen, a large contusion to the left shoulder and a laceration to his hind right leg. The cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma, according to the press release.
Last month, following a three-day trial, a jury convicted Prasad of animal cruelty and contempt of court. The contempt charge related to a restraining order the girlfriend had against Prasad for a previous domestic violence incident. It prohibited him from damaging her property or disturbing her peace, according to the press release.
The jury also found true three circumstances in aggravation: that Roscoe was a particularly vulnerable victim; that the crime involved great violence with a high degree of cruelty, viciousness or callousness; and that Prasad was on probation at the time of the offense.
He was also accused of an enhancement for using a plastic bucket as a deadly weapon, but the jury did not find that to be true. As a result, Prasad cannot be sent to prison and is instead facing local jail time, said Public Defender Jennifer Jennison.
Prasad is scheduled to be sentenced Nov. 18 and faces a maximum sentence of three years in jail. He has been in custody since his arrest in March.
