Dog batterer found guilty

A warning: this one’s tough to stomach.

A man who admitted to smashing his dog in the head twice with a sledgehammer in a supposed mercy killing gone wrong was convicted on one felony Wednesday in DeKalb County Superior Court, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution’s April Hunt reports. Jurors found him guilty of two lesser misdemeanor charges of animal cruelty instead of two other felonies he faced.

Joe Waters could serve prison time and pay thousands of dollars in fines, the AJC said.

Waters left the 9-year-old dog near death in Murphey Candler Park on Dec. 1. The dog had a severe skull fracture, hypothermia and lost an eye, but he has recovered and lives with the man who found him the day after the attack. The Good Samaritan, Robert Kennedy, has paid $10,000 in medical bills with a trust fund that was set up for the dog.