In an unusual move on Thursday during a bestiality case prosecutors brought out a stuffed animal to demonstrate the disturbing acts a Michigan State University employee did to his own pet dog.
Joseph Hattey, a physicist at MSU, is charged with two counts of bestiality after he was accused of penetrating and inappropriately stroking his pet basset hound, Flash.
During the preliminary hearing, prosecutor Richard Cunningham brought out a life-like stuffed dog and asked the witness to demonstrate what he saw Hattey, 51, do at his Holt, Michigan home in January.
Prosecutor Richard Cunningham brought a stuffed animal during court to demonstrate what an MSU physicist accused of bestiality did to his pet dog
Cunningham had the witness show the courtroom what he saw 51-year-old Joseph Hattey do to Flash, Hattey’s pet basset hound
The witness obliged, the State News reports.
‘I was still petting the dog holding him by his chest, petting his head and his ears,’ the witness said. ‘And he (Hattey) was on the other side of the dog trying to get aroused by stroking it.’
Hattey is accused of penetrating the dog and inappropriately touching it
When the attorney asked where Hattey was touching the animal, the witnesses replied: ‘On its genitals’.
Investigators were tipped off to Hattey after a Craigslist user reported a cryptic ad seeking ‘restless’ animals. The ad read: ‘Anyone have a restless dog or horse that needs occupied for a while? I love playing with them. Preferably not fixed but either is fine, male animals preferred.’
The ad was posted by the witness. According to State News, the witness said he posted the ad to feed ‘into his fantasy of bestiality’ but said he never actually acted on it. He said he enjoyed reading the replies and discussions from the post.
One of the people who responded to the disgusting post was Hattey, the witness said. He told authorities that Hattey invited him to his house and that’s when he witnessed the MSU physicist reach around and touch the basset hound before the dog ran away.
The witness was granted immunity for testifying.
During a search of Hattey’s home investigators seized a cell phone and personal computer which allegedly contained photographs of ‘human and animal acts’, including two photos of a man presumed to be Hattey having sex with a dog presumed to be Flash, the Lansing State Journal reports.
Investigators were led to Hattey after he responded to a Craigslist ad from a man seeking to have sex with a dog or a horse
The Michigan Attorney General’s Office said he penetrated the dog with both his hand and penis. A detective testified that a veterinary examination showed the dog had suffered anal trauma but couldn’t determine that it was sexual in nature.
Hattey was suspended in April from Michigan State University pending the outcome of the case, Fox News reports. Before working as a physicist in the school’s environmental health and safety office, he worked in the school’s Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory.
If convicted of the crime, Hattey faces up to 15 years in prison. His dog, Flash, has been adopted by a ‘loving’ family.
The continuation of the preliminary hearing for Hattey is scheduled for July 5.