A southern Michigan man has been ordered to stand trial in the beating of his dog.
The Battle Creek Enquirer reports that a preliminary examination was held Tuesday for 54-year-old David Hursley.
Hursley is charged with killing or torturing an animal and cruelty to animals.
The husky mix had been beaten with an aluminum baseball bat and shot at least once with a pellet rifle in February.
A Battle Creek police officer shot and killed the dog because of the severity of its wounds.
Hursley told officers the dog had been behaving aggressively and bit another man's hand.
Defense attorney J. Thomas Schaeffer said his client was "justified" in his actions because the dog attacked the two men.
