A jacket hides the head and face of Senior Airman Dustin Yandell on Monday morning behind the Mildenhall Magistrates Court in England, while an acquaintance ushers him into a truck. (Bryan Mitchell / S&S)
MILDENHALL, England — The trial of a 48th Fighter Wing airman charged with the improper killing of his dog was postponed Monday morning after the defendant said he still needed to get copies of evidence against him.
The three magistrates at Mildenhall Magistrates Court agreed to delay the trial of Senior Airman Dustin Yandell until 11 a.m. on Aug. 25 and move it to the Bury St. Edmunds Magistrates Court.
He faces one count of causing unnecessary suffering to an animal by improper killing, according to court documents.
Yandell, 21, clad in all black and wearing cowboy boots, spoke briefly to the magistrates Monday, explaining that he had not received copies of evidence collected by the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. He provided the court with his new address on RAF Lakenheath.
The RSPCA charged Yandell on July 1 following a three-month investigation that began in March when a garbage man found the dog with its throat slit in a garbage bin near Yandell’s Newmarket home.
Yandell has been relieved of his duties as a security forces member at RAF Lakenheath and has moved from his home in Newmarket onto RAF Lakenheath, according to a 48th Fighter Wing spokeswoman and Yandell’s court testimony.
He has been reassigned to administrative duties, according to Tech. Sgt. Renee Kirkland, a 48th Fighter Wing spokeswoman.
If convicted, Yandell faces a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $9,100 fine.
