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LOCK HAVEN -- A Clinton County jury took just under an hour to return guilty verdicts for a man accused of killing a neighbor's dog and disposing of its body in Dauphin County in 2024.
This was the second trial for Robert J. Wallish, III, after the first was declared a mistrial due to Clinton County Court of Common Pleas facility dog, Clark, wandered into the jury room during a lunch break in late stages of the first in March.
On Friday afternoon, following two days of testimony, the jury returned guilty verdicts on one count of aggravated cruelty to animals, a third degree felony, and one count of tampering with evidence, a second degree misdemeanor.
The case was prosecuted by District Attorney Dave Strouse.
According to information released by Strouse's office via Crimewatch, Wallish, 55, of Hummelstown in Dauphin County, was found guilty of shooting and killing an 11-year-old yellow Labrador while at his hunting cabin in Westport, Noyes Township, Clinton County, in December of 2024. Wallish was also found guilty of then concealing the dog's body and transporting the remains to Dauphin County where he dumped the body in a farm field.
At trial heard the following:
On Dec. 16, 2024, troopers from state police's Lamar barracks responded to a Westport home where the family reported that their 11-year-old yellow Labrador, Hemi, was outside with his owner at approximately 5:30 a.m. on Dec. 16, 2024 and the dog never returned.
A search for the dog led the police to a neighboring hunting cabin owned by Wallish. On Wallish's property, police discovered blood, dog hair and other biological matter.
State police would later execute several search warrants in both Clinton and Dauphin counties.
On Dec. 17, 2024, the dog was found deceased approximately 150 miles away from the scene where it had been killed with a gunshot wound to its neck.
DNA testing showed the evidence at Wallish's cabin matched the missing dog, and the dog recovered over three hours away the following day.Hemi was also "microchipped" and was quickly identified by police when his remains were located.
According to the release, just as he did at his first trial, Wallish took the witness stand at trial, and claimed he shot the dog in self-defense and panicked afterward, leading him to take the dog and dump it in a field just a couple miles from his home in Dauphin County.
Wallish's defense also presented a pair of witnesses who testified that they know Wallish to have a reputation for being "law-abiding," the release said.
In his closing argument to the jury, Strouse repeatedly described what he said were blatant lies told by the defendant, calling his story a "convenient and carefully concocted story that he fabricated to try to circumvent the mountain of evidence that proves he's guilty."
The prosecution involved 139 exhibits admitted into evidence throughout the course of trial, including photographs and game camera videos.
Wallish will face sentencing, to be scheduled by the court. He faces a maximum penalty of up to nine years in prison.