Man accused of shooting cat going to trial
LAWRENCE - A Lawrence man accused of shooting a cat is taking his case to trial.
The cat once known as "Bullet" has a good home and has recovered from being shot. Meanwhile, the man accused of hurting the animal appeared in municipal court.
73 year-old Jimmy Wilkins was cited in May after allegedly shooting a cat twice. The trapped animal was discovered in the 100 block of Michigan St. The cat was rushed to a veterinarian for surgery and survived.
The Lawrence Humane Society took him in, naming him Bullet. He has since been adopted by a local family that operates a forensics lab. They say he now serves as their pet and business mascot.
A short time after the incident, Wilkins was cited for animal cruelty and firing a gun within city limits. Both are misdemeanor crimes that are punishable by up to $2,500 and a year in jail. But Wilkins' attorney says his client didn't do it. "He wasn't in town that day," says Hatem Chahine. "We're going to present evidence of an alibi, showing he was actually at his sister's house that memorial weekend. I believe my client is innocent of these matters and that's what we're going to present at trial."
He says Wilkins and the defendant's wife are animal lovers and not capable of an act of cruelty. "Back when I took the case on, originally I was really upset about the facts as well," says Chahine. "But he and his wife are very humane to animals. There's been a lot of times where they've caught animals where they are. They release them by the lake. They take stray cats to the humane society, and that's something she does on a regular basis."
The trial is set for January 19.