Shannon Richardson, a suspended Buffalo police cellblock attendant, was arraigned Thursday in State Supreme Court on felony dog-fighting charges.
The defendant, 34, stood silently as Supreme Court Justice Christopher J. Burns continued the bail set at $7,500.
Richardson, 34, of Erb Street, faces three felony counts of prohibition of animal fighting and two misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty. He also faces a misdemeanor count of prohibition of animal fighting in connection with fight-training equipment recovered from his home after his arrest in December.
Police at that time also recovered four malnourished fighting dogs.
Erie County Assistant District Attorney Justin Wallens argued unsuccessfully to increase bail to $10,000. Wallens cited Richardson’s 2005 arrest in Lackawanna during a domestic dispute in which police said he stabbed an ex-girlfriend with a screw driver before being forcibly subdued with a chemical spray.
Immediately after the arraignment, an animal-rights advocate who attended the proceeding shouted: “Click ‘em tight, just like the chains you put around their necks.”
Outside the courthouse at 25 Delaware Ave., about a dozen protesters wearing red marched against dog fighting. Some carried signs with the name and photograph of Ginja, one of the dogs recovered from Richardson at the time of his arrest.
Ginja was reported missing from the Buffalo Animal Shelter in early January, A $7,000 reward has been offered for her return.
email: jkwiatkowski@buffnews.com
The defendant, 34, stood silently as Supreme Court Justice Christopher J. Burns continued the bail set at $7,500.
Richardson, 34, of Erb Street, faces three felony counts of prohibition of animal fighting and two misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty. He also faces a misdemeanor count of prohibition of animal fighting in connection with fight-training equipment recovered from his home after his arrest in December.
Police at that time also recovered four malnourished fighting dogs.
Erie County Assistant District Attorney Justin Wallens argued unsuccessfully to increase bail to $10,000. Wallens cited Richardson’s 2005 arrest in Lackawanna during a domestic dispute in which police said he stabbed an ex-girlfriend with a screw driver before being forcibly subdued with a chemical spray.
Immediately after the arraignment, an animal-rights advocate who attended the proceeding shouted: “Click ‘em tight, just like the chains you put around their necks.”
Outside the courthouse at 25 Delaware Ave., about a dozen protesters wearing red marched against dog fighting. Some carried signs with the name and photograph of Ginja, one of the dogs recovered from Richardson at the time of his arrest.
Ginja was reported missing from the Buffalo Animal Shelter in early January, A $7,000 reward has been offered for her return.
email: jkwiatkowski@buffnews.com