Dog-killer’s appeal in jeopardy

BELFAST — A convicted puppy-killer’s appeal of his nine-month jail sentence may have failed because of his failure to pay for a transcript of his trial.

Joseph Coolidge, 28, of Winterport was convicted of cruelty to animals in District Court in April for holding a neighbor’s 6-month-old puppy under the wheels of an idling truck and directing the driver to back over the animal last November.

After a presentence investigation, Coolidge was sentenced May 21 by Judge Clifford O’Rourke to nine months in jail. In handing down the stiff sentence, O’Rourke cited Coolidge’s record of prior convictions, his lack of remorse, and the anguish suffered by the puppy’s owner, a teen-age girl, saying those factors “do not speak well for his social traits.”

Coolidge immediately filed for an appeal and was released from jail on $10,000 bail, using his mother’s property as surety.

From the time he filed the notice of appeal, Coolidge had 40 days to pay for the cost of a transcript of his trial and sentencing hearing, at $2.40 a page, for a total of $720. He failed to do so, resulting in the state’s cancellation of the order for the transcript.

Coolidge may be headed to jail Sept. 1, when Superior Court next convenes here. At that time, the Waldo County District Attorney’s Office may move to have the appeal dismissed or the court may remand the case back to District Court to have the nine-month sentence imposed.

Coolidge could file a motion for another chance to pay for the transcript, adding another piece of paper to an already thick court file. Coolidge is on his third attorney since he was charged. The first two resigned because of breakdowns in the attorney-client relationship.