Here’s the press release from the State’s Attorney’s Office:

KIRK LOCHER FOUND GUILTY FOR SHOOTING FAMILY DOG

Louis A. Bianchi, McHenry County State’s Attorney, announces that Kirk Locher was found guilty yesterday by a jury for the offenses of Aggravated Cruelty and Reckless Discharge
of a Firearm, resulting from the shooting death of his yellow Labrador Retriever, “Breeze”.

The evidence at trial revealed that the defendant had been drinking alcohol throughout the afternoon at his Woodstock home on May 30, 2008.

Later that night, the defendant woke-up his wife complaining that the dog had bit him. His wife got out of bed and sat at the kitchen table with the Labrador Retriever resting approximately four feet away on the kitchen floor.

The defendant brought a revolver out of his bedroom, leaned over the kitchen table, and shot
the retriever in the head.

Two investigating officers testified that the defendant was under the influence of alcohol when they arrived at the scene.

Both offenses are class four felonies and the defendant faces a possible sentence of probation or conditional discharge or between one to three years in the Illinois Department of Corrections.

This case was investigated by Ofc. Harmon, Det. Spitzer and Sgt. Amati of the Woodstock Police Department, and prosecuted for the State by Assistant State’s Attorneys Sharyl Eisenstein and Ryan Blackney.