An animal abuse charge was recently dismissed for a Kalona man who shot and killed his dog.

Twenty-nine year-old Kendall Wayne Hammes was arrested for the aggravated misdemeanor last June for an incident that occurred at his residence. Witnesses stated that Hammes’ Rottweiler mix was not listening to him and when Hammes got down in the dog’s face the dog bit him. Hammes then put the dog in its kennel and fired one round from a 9mm handgun into the dog, killing it. Witnesses believed that alcohol played a major factor in Hammes’ behavior that night. When Washington County Sheriff’s Deputies came to the residence both Hammes and the dog were gone and the garage had a large amount of blood visible on the floor.

Hammes motioned for the court to dismiss, asserting that he was acting by Iowa Code, particularly a statute that says it is lawful for someone to kill a dog when the dog is attacking or attempting to bite a person, and cited the case of State v. West. The State argued this didn’t apply as Hammes was not “in the process of being bitten” when he killed the dog and not acting in a “self-defense-like scenario.” The Court ruled that while it does not condone Hammes’ behavior on the incident date, his motion must be granted.

He was also charged with reckless use of a firearm, a simple misdemeanor, but no court dates have been filed for the charge since July 2021.