Mark Millican
Richard Charles Roach, one of the defendants who allegedly killed and dismembered a dog in Murray County, acknowledged his role Friday at a probation revocation hearing in Whitfield County.
“Jeffery (Fuller) didn’t have nothing to do with it — I held him down and Randall (Blaylock) cut (the dog’s) head off,” Roach said to gasps from those in attendance in Superior Court.
Roach, 50, Fuller, 45, and Blaylock, 54, are each charged with aggravated cruelty to animals in Murray County for the Jan. 20 incident at 130 Greyland Farm Road. Roach pleaded guilty to violating probation from a forgery charge in Whitfield County. He was released from prison in October on that charge. He is also a registered sex offender.
Superior Court Judge William Boyett — who told Roach he is charged with “cruelty to dogs” — allowed Bert Poston of the district attorney’s office to place Roach under oath to answer the question about his co-defendants. When Boyett later asked Roach if he had violated his probation by taking part in the alleged killing of the dog, he responded, “I did.”
Boyett revoked Roach’s probation and sentenced him to 12 months to serve in jail.
Public defender Andy Cohen told Boyett that Roach lives in Murray County and that Roach requested he be able to serve his time there instead of in Whitfield County. Boyett approved the request.
Fuller and Blaylock are expected to have their charges heard before a Murray County grand jury on Monday. Roach will still face the cruelty charge in Murray County Superior Court.
Cohen did not immediately return a phone call seeking further information on Friday.
