Dog left outside coffee shop died from cancer, not heat; case against owner dropped
Prosecutors have dropped the case against a Coweta County man accused of tying up his dog outside a Newnan coffee shop and leaving it to die.
Jon Schuck, 70, was arrested earlier this month on a misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty after his dog, a 4-year-old Spaniel mix named Beauty, was found dead outside the Leaf and Bean coffee shop while Schuck sat inside.
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Police initially believed heat contributed to Beauty’s death, according to a Newnan police report. It was about 85 degrees outside on Oct. 2 when prosecutors said Schuck left her with a bowl of water and some food under a shaded spot near the shop’s entrance.
Several people noticed Beauty while she sat there, and one witness told police he notified Schuck when he saw the dog was having trouble breathing.
“The District Attorney’s Office has concluded there is insufficient evidence to proceed on either misdemeanor or felony cruelty to animals (charges), as newly obtained evidence shows that his dog, Beauty, passed away that day of natural causes related to lymphoma and sepsis, rather than as a result of any neglect or mistreatment,” Coweta County District Attorney Herb Cranford said in a statement.
Schuck knew his dog had cancer when he adopted her, Cranford said, and he was hoping to help her recover. They had not been together long when he took Beauty for a walk in downtown Newton. She collapsed before they made it to Leaf and Bean, and Schuck carried her the rest of the way, officials said.
Schuck posted a photo of their excursion to his Facebook page showing Beauty next to her food and water, laying on a blanket.
“Campin' out at L&B with ‘Beauty,’” Schuck captioned the photo. “The nicest barista's [sic] ever takin' care of this dog just adopted to save her life, as she has a rare form of cancer ... With the Lord's help, we will see it through for her.”
Police were called less than two hours later, and Beauty was dead before they arrived.
A necropsy showed no evidence of heat exhaustion or of being malnourished, Cranford said. The veterinary examiner concluded the dog was “very sick prior to death.”
“Given the initial concern that heat exhaustion led to Beauty’s very public death, this case understandably received considerable attention from concerned citizens as well as from our office,” he said in the statement. “However, we have ultimately determined based on the newly discovered evidence that justice is not served by prosecuting Mr. Schuck with any criminal offense, since Beauty’s death cannot be attributed to any criminal neglect or mistreatment at the hands of Mr. Schuck.”
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