Memphis Man Who Killed Puppy By Trapping It In Dishwasher Sentenced To Prison
A Memphis man accused of putting his puppy, Daisy, into a running dishwasher has pleaded guilty of felony aggravated animal cruelty. 27-year-old Marcus Curry of Memphis has been sentenced to 16 months in prison. Aggravated animal cruelty can mean six-year prison sentence.
Contractors doing work at the Eden Watersedge Apartments saw a German Shepherd puppy on an apartment porch. The puppy didn’t have water so one contractor told the Memphis man he needed to take better care of the puppy, reported WREG News. The contractor said Marcus then took the puppy inside and about an hour later he witnessed Curry carry a duffle bag outside and put the bag in the dumpster.
One of the contractors, Henry Jones, who had given the puppy water earlier told WREG News, “I was thinking to myself ‘That must be the dog. I unzipped the bag and saw the dog and it was wet.” The puppy was dead. Authorities were notified. Curry was arrested.
According to a police affidavit, at one point, Curry told police officers he didn’t ever put the puppy into the dishwasher but that he did put the dead puppy into a bag and throw it into the dumpster.
Fox News reported that a witness told police that Curry admitted putting the dog in the dishwasher and saying he “left it in there too long.” The Memphis man eventually told police he did put the puppy in the dishwasher but only to keep it from going to the bathroom on the floor, reported WREG. However, witnesses told the Memphis police that they saw him put the puppy in his dishwasher, turn the dishwasher on, and leave the dishwasher running.
A petition with 24,164 signatures on causes.com asked prosecutors to “Prosecute and Jail- Marcus Curry over the killing of his German Shepherd puppy.” An additional petition with 7084 signatures on causes.com asked the Attorney General to “Give Marcus Curry maximum sentence for brutally killing Puppy!”
Curry was also charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty by the grand jury according to the Shelby County District Attorney. The misdemeanor charges alleged Curry left the same puppy tied to the porch last June for several days with no noticeable food or water. Police said Marcus was also up on fraud charges for allegedly using his great aunt’s credit card without her authorization in the amount of $600.
Despite pleading guilty to the charge, in August of last year Marcus wrote a public testimony where he claims he is innocent:
“Imma real peaceful guy, that only wont to be a good farther, friend, brotha, sister, lover, husband, im not a dam D*M DOG KILLA. a lot of people lied on me, wat if it was da other way around and it happen to each and ever last one of yall. Everybody dat really knw me, knws wat kind of person I am. All my life in Memphis just been h*ll yall, cant trust a soul, not even yo own gurl smmh. So fb this is my testimony, and no matter wat happen I just wont yall to knw the truth, Memphis will make you look like a convict just to get paid, turn your good life into stress and pain. I tried my best and da lord knw I did, but sum reasons im allways around devils!!!!!!!!!!!!!!”
The public, however, is furious with the Memphis man.
NAME ‘EM & SHAME ‘EM! Marcus Curry MEMPHIS, TN killed puppy in dishwasher http://t.co/1zRLUJ7xzd pic.twitter.com/zlpJuSSj1F
— Julie Core (@SoNewtonFerals) April 4, 2014
The incidents allegedly occurred between June 18-26 at Curry’s apartment in the 2800 block of Meadowlake Drive. He was indicted in October, but was not arrested until earlier this year when he was found at a motel. Shelby County District Attorney, Amy Weirich said the Memphis man pleaded guilty to felony charges of aggravated animal cruelty for killing his puppy by putting it in the dishwasher, The Jackson Sun reported.
