[Updated on Wednesday, September 25, 2013 at 5:23 p.m.]
Testimony is over and the jury will begin deliberating Thursday morning in the case of an East Moline man who shot and killed a neighbor’s dog.
The jury’s job will be to decide if this is a case of vigilantly justice or a case of self-defense.
Michael Coulter took the stand in his own defense on Wednesday afternoon saying he felt he had no choice but to shoot the pit bull-mix.
[Original story published on Tuesday, September 24, 2013 at 4:30 p.m.]
A jury was picked Tuesday afternoon and testimony set to begin Wednesday in the case of an East Moline man who shot and killed a neighbor's dog in February.
Michael Coulter says he fired one shot at the Shepard-pit bull mix in self defense, to protect his family. Defense attorney Dan Dalton says Coulter's step-son was bitten by the dog and underwent a series of preventative rabies shots.
Prosecutors say Coulter should not have taken the law into his own hands in a residential neighborhood and will try to prove the dog had already started retreating at the time of the shooting.
The dog's body was later found near a Mercer County creek.
Coulter, a physical therapist, is charged with aggravated cruelty to an animal and reckless discharge of a firearm. He's a former military police officer who says he knew he had a clean shot and believed he had to take it.
Coulter faces up to six years in prison.