A Los Angeles man was charged Wednesday with killing his family’s dog by setting the animal ablaze with lighter fluid.
Brandon Jerold Smith, 24, pleaded not guilty to one felony count each of cruelty to animals and arson of property of another.
The case includes an allegation that he used lighter fluid as a deadly and dangerous weapon, according to the Los Angeles County District Attorney’s Office.
Smith allegedly hung his family’s dog, a Welsh corgi mix named Hennessy, on a fence and lit her on fire Aug. 22, prosecutors said.
“One of the most important responsibilities of my office is to protect the most vulnerable that includes our pets,” District Attorney George Gascon said in a statement announcing the charges.
Smith was arrested Saturday by officers from the Los Angeles Police Department’s Southeast Division and has remained behind bars since then, jail records show.
He is due back in a Compton courtroom Sept. 22, when a date is scheduled to be set for a hearing to determine if there is sufficient evidence to allow the case against him to proceed to trial.
