A Kingston, Massachusetts, man appeared in court Thursday after allegedly poisoning and then stabbing his dog to death.
At the start of the arraignment Thursday morning, Jonathan Paluzzi's attorney immediately requested the judge grant a mental competency evaluation be performed before proceedings continue.
The judge granted the request and postponed the hearing for a later time.
The incident was something very upsetting not only for neighbors who called police, but also especially for the parents of Paluzzi, who were at the home when the family dog was killed.
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Kingston police arrested the 44-year-old man Wednesday at his parents' apartment in Kingston on Wednesday.
Neighbors reportedly heard a lot of screaming and crying coming from the Paluzzi home and called 911. Officers later found the 60-pound bull-terrier mix, named Brutus, and determined it was first poisoned with fentanyl and then stabbed to death.
Paluzzi had left the apartment before police arrived, only to return later and run into officers, who arrested him.
"It sounds like he intended on giving the dog away, trying to give it to a shelter. He also apparently had tried to get it euthanized, but nobody would euthanize it because it was healthy. So, for one reason or another, he wanted to get rid of the dog and apparently decided the best way to do that was to kill it," explained Kingston Police Det. Lt. Michael Skowyra.
"They were joined at the hip," Paul Paluzzi, John's father, said Tuesday about his son and Brutus. "Anytime my son would leave to go out or have a smoke or he put down his dog food, he wouldn't touch it until John came back."
The suspect's mother, Janice Paluzzi, said he was trying to get rid of Brutus because he wanted to go into rehab and realized his parents couldn't take care of the dog on their own.
"'I'm sick and tired of getting high, taking advantage of you guys, and feeling like this,' and he said, 'So I'll have to put Brutus down,'" she said.
Paluzzi's parents say that their son was high on fentanyl when he killed the animal, and that they're praying he gets the help he needs.
This incident wasn't the first time Paluzzi had a run-in with law enforcement, police said.
He faces two animal cruelty charges and a drug possession charge.
