TX - Justin Belton charged with animal cruelty *graphic* - June 21, 2023

[Ebon]

Puppy-abuse claims so terrible that multiple attorneys passed on representing defendant: Prosecutors

Justin Reilly Belton dismembered four puppies in Harris County, Texas, according to local prosecutors, who said two defense lawyers declined to take the case.

lawandcrime.com

It appears that the animal abuse allegations against a man were so ghastly that multiple defense lawyers passed on representing the defendant, Justin Reilly Belton, 44.

John Donnelly, public affairs officer for the Harris County District Attorney’s Office in Texas, told Law&Crime that according to a prosecutor, two private attorneys on the on-call list declined to take the case on Tuesday due to the nature of the charges. The court had to reschedule the arraignment for Wednesday.

Court documents said that Belton brought six puppies to an animal hospital, and the vet found that four of the young canines were missing limbs and tails.

• Puppy A: a paw
• Puppy B: a leg
• Puppy C: a leg
• Puppy D: two legs

Authorities could not determine what Belton used, but the vet described these as clean cuts. The crime took place on or about Saturday, they said.

“[Belton] changed story multiple times attempting to explain what happened to the animals,” authorities said.

The vet said that one of the puppies had to be euthanized, documents stated. The others were critically injured.

 

[LadyL]

I can't deal with these kinds of cases. He's not even worth trying to rehabilitate. Just give him the firing squad. JMO.

 

[MAHBOOBOO]

Some more info about him I picked up from the Harris County Municipal Records site:

The guy owns/owned a welding supply store near his home. Looks like it closed in March, so perhaps he's been on a downward spiral recently and him closing the business was a consequence of that? Also looks like a tax forfeiture was involved with the closing of the business. Case documents state that Belton is a known meth user. That part did not surprise me.

According to his financial affidavit he is the owner of Wholesale Industrial Supply in Baytown, TX.

Found this on the page for his bond request.

The veterinary clinic he took the puppies to is one of the closest 24 hour emergency vet clinics to him, which is 27 minutes away from his house.

He's on Nextdoor - no activity though, except for he "thanked" a post made by a local news station for their 2019 post entitled "Group hopes to shift Baytown animal shelter to 'no kill' ". His profile picture on there shows a much happier, healthier man.

 

[airportwoman]

Does he have a glass eye? It looks like he does, although I can't tell which one might be like that.

Anyway, yeah, this sounds like meth. Around my area, dog fighting and meth are closely tied together as well.

 

[jukejointjezebel]

He raped me.

He hired me to clean his home and he raped me. I went to the hospital, did a rape kit— but he threatened that he knew where I lived and where my children went to school. He also told me during the act that he preferred immigrants because nobody cared what happened to them, and told me of a petite Hispanic lady that’s now buried in the swamps of Louisiana. He believed me to be an immigrant. He also did speed before he raped me. I’m not really sure what that is, he just told me he was doing it.

So I kept quiet to keep myself and my family safe.

I went looking for the name of his store in Baytown to make sure he wasn’t a vendor for my partner— and I came across this.

I feel so sick to my stomach.

 

[MAHBOOBOO]

I am so sorry for you JukeJointJezebel! I hope you have someone you can talk to about this.

Everyone - it looks like they dropped the charges against him? I'm not sure I'm reading this correctly but that's how this final case document "Charging Instrument - No Bills" reads to me.

 

[LordMo]

He raped me.

He hired me to clean his home and he raped me. I went to the hospital, did a rape kit— but he threatened that he knew where I lived and where my children went to school. He also told me during the act that he preferred immigrants because nobody cared what happened to them, and told me of a petite Hispanic lady that’s now buried in the swamps of Louisiana. He believed me to be an immigrant. He also did speed before he raped me. I’m not really sure what that is, he just told me he was doing it.

So I kept quiet to keep myself and my family safe.

I went looking for the name of his store in Baytown to make sure he wasn’t a vendor for my partner— and I came across this.

I feel so sick to my stomach.

good lord, I'm so sorry. And I 100% believe you.