RIVERSIDE - In front of a packed courtroom audience Thursday, Glynn Johnson took the witness stand and said he was defending himself when he repeatedly pounded his neighbor's dog in the head with a large rock, killing it. Prosecutors accuse Johnson, a career firefighter who once supervised fire stations in Pomona and Diamond Bar, of attacking the puppy after years of increasingly tense disputes with his next-door neighbors about their pets.
On the witness stand in Riverside Superior Court, Johnson, 55, denied that he was angry when he saw his neighbor's dog wandering in the front yard of his Riverside home on Nov. 3, 2008.
Johnson testified that the day of the incident, he tried to walk the dog back to its owner's home.
"I came out to help. That's what firemen do," said Johnson, who recently retired from the Los Angeles County Fire Department as an assistant fire chief.
As he held the dog's collar and walked the animal toward its owner's home, Johnson said the dog unexpectedly attacked him, latching its jaws onto his thumb and nearly severing it.
In response, Johnson picked up a large decorative rock in his yard and repeatedly struck the dog, Johnson testified. The dog was euthanized after the incident.
During his cross-examination Thursday, Deputy District Attorney Will Robinson asked numerous questions intended to cast doubt on Johnson's account.
Johnson acknowledged under questioning that he felt his neighbors were "excessively loud" and sounded like "surround sound." He also said he became upset at times when neighborhood pets came into his yard. "I don't think I should have to clean up dog feces from other people's dogs," Johnson said.
Johnson said he is 6 foot 1 inch tall and weighs 225 pounds, while the puppy, named Karley, was 6 to 8 months old and weighed 30 to 35 pounds, according to testimony Thursday.
Despite their size differences, Johnson testified that the dog was stronger than him during the incident, requiring his use of a 12-pound rock to subdue the animal.
"Have you ever been attacked by a dog? It's very quick and it's very painful," Johnson said.
During Robinson's cross-examination, he projected photographs of the bloodied dog on the courtroom wall. He also produced the large rock used during the incident and had Johnson demonstrate how he struck the dog.
Johnson's case has attracted a great deal of interest from animal rights activists, and the large courtroom crowds during his trial reflect that interest.
Prior to Johnson's testimony Thursday, attorneys in the case complained to Judge J. Thompson Hanks that some audience members were arguing with each other in the courtroom hallway and wearing clothing with slogans possibly meant to influence jurors.
The judge told attorneys that because of the possible influence from audience members, jurors are sequestered in the deliberation room when they arrive each morning at the courthouse.
Johnson's trial is set to resume this morning. If convicted of felony animal cruelty, he could face up to four years in state prison. 


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