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Bestiality conviction reinstated in sexual assault of roommate's dog

Douglas Walker
The (Muncie, Ind.) Star Press

MUNCIE, Ind. — A bizarre legal saga that began when a Muncie man sexually assaulted his roommate’s dog nearly two years ago ended Tuesday with a ruling by the Indiana Supreme Court.

Andrew Shinnock

Andy Allen “Uncle Andy” Shinnock, now 36, was arrested in August 2015 after he sexually abused a 1-year-old female pit bull mix named Baby Girl in his West First Street apartment.

At the conclusion of a bench trial the following April, Delaware Circuit Court 2 Judge Kimberly Dowling found Shinnock guilty, but mentally ill, of bestiality, a Level 6 felony carrying up to three years in prison.

The judge later imposed an 18-month sentence, but with credit for time served and good behavior, Shinnock was that day released from jail.

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In February, the Indiana Court of Appeals overturned the bestiality conviction, ruling that Shinnock’s confessions should not have been considered in the case because there was no other evidence supporting his guilt.

Senior Judge John Sharpnack noted in that 3-0 ruling there was no evidence “of physical injury to the dog’s sex organ.”

The Muncie man’s roommate had testified while he did not witness the actual assault, he arrived home to find Shinnock and the dog under extremely unusual circumstances.

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Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill in March filed a petition asking the state Supreme Court to reinstate the conviction, saying failing to do so would set “a dangerous precedent.”

Hill’s deputies wrote that under the February ruling, “the state would be precluded from trying offenders in all but those (bestiality) cases in which the offense was witnessed firsthand.”

The same reasoning could be applied to cases involving “infant, pre-verbral or non-verbal child victims,” they wrote.

In a 5-0 ruling Tuesday, the Indiana Supreme Court ruled Dowling was correct in considering Shinnock’s confessions.

“Due to the nature and circumstances of the matter, there is no direct evidence of what happened to Baby Girl,” Justice Steven David wrote in Tuesday’s ruling. “However, there is ample circumstantial evidence that provides an inference that Shinnock committed bestiality.”

Shinnock has also been convicted of molesting children, in 2002 and 2012.

Follow Douglas Walker on Twitter: @DouglasWalkerSP

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