BOSTON, May 14, 2012—A Dorchester man admitted last week to neglecting his 4-year-old dog, leaving the animal emaciated with hunger and badly injured, accepting a minimum of six months in jail rather than face trial, Suffolk County District Attorney Daniel F. Conley said today.

DANA M. THOMSON (D.O.B. 8/12/77) pleaded guilty in Dorchester District Court last week to two counts of cruelty to animals, just as his trial on those charges was scheduled to begin. Thomson was charged with failing to provide food or medical care to Braun, a Staffordshire terrier that was later put to sleep.

Judge Robert Baylor sentenced Thomson to two and a half years in a house of correction with six months to serve up front and the balance suspended for three years. Upon his release, Thomson must report regularly to the Probation Department, remain free of drugs and alcohol, submit to random urine tests, and perform 50 hours of community service. Thomson was also specifically forbidden from owning or caring for any animals.

“It was a heartbreaking case,” Conley said. “This was a creature that should have had a long and healthy life, but its last weeks were spent in hunger and pain.”

Had the case proceeded to trial, Assistant District Attorney Nicole Poirier of Conley’s Dorchester court staff would have introduced the testimony of veterinarians from the MSPCA-Angell Animal Medical Center and other evidence to prove that Thomson knowingly failed to give Braun adequate food and was aware of but ignored multiple open lesions on the dog’s body.

Additional evidence and testimony would have shown that a member of Thomson’s family brought Braun to the Angell Animal Medical Center in March 2011. Veterinary staff there found the dog to be emaciated from lack of food and suffering from more than a dozen open lesions on his body – including one infected wound so large it left muscle and nerve tissue exposed. The dog was later euthanized, and a necropsy found no illness or disease that would have explained his injuries.

“The only explanation was prolonged neglect,” Conley said.

Poirier would have introduced further testimony suggesting that Braun was brought to MSPCA-Angell only after Boston Animal Control officers visited Thomson’s School Street residence for a complaint of an injured dog tied up in the back yard. Instead of bringing him directly to the hospital, though, Thomson instead brought the dog into the basement and had a family member transport him to MSPCA-Angell two days later.

In statements to members of the MSPCA Law Enforcement Department, Thomson acknowledged noticing the dog’s extreme weight loss and lethargy, but said he took no action aside from feeding him table scraps because he was having “financial issues.”

Thomson was represented by attorney Anne Coolidge Masse.

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All defendants are presumed innocent until and unless proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.