The mayor of McCune, Kan., is expected to sign a plea agreement that would drop two felony animal cruelty charges related to the shooting of two dogs earlier this year, according to his defense attorney.
Rick Smith, the attorney for McCune mayor Don Call, said he expects to forward a signed copy of the agreement to the Crawford County Attorney’s office by next week.
The mayor is facing two felony charges of animal cruelty in connection with an incident in which he has said he fatally shot a man’s dogs at a home in the small farming community. Call alleges the dogs were known to have been aggressive.
Call was also charged with a misdemeanor unlawful use of a weapon, which Smith said is the only count to which Call will plead guilty.
Call alleges he went to Duane Wahl’s house on Feb. 1 in response to the call from a neighbor who reported that Wahl’s dogs had broken out of his property and chased some children into their house.
According to a police report and the mayor’s own account, Call drove to Wahl’s house at 612 Oak St. and shot the dogs with a 9 mm rifle as they lay on the sidewalk outside the house. Call has maintained that his action was necessary because the Sheriff’s Department had not acted on previous complaints about dogs owned by Wahl running loose.
Wahl moved to Mulberry from McCune some time after the dogs were killed. He has since been charged in several other criminal cases, including first-degree murder in connection with the disappearance of a former roommate, Richard Davis.
