A Longview man has pleaded guilty to first-degree animal cruelty for slashing a dog in the neck in 2024.
Daryl Keith Bowen, 54, was sentenced in Cowlitz County Superior Court last week to three months in county jail. He pleaded guilty earlier in March and has a compliance hearing scheduled for Monday.
According to court records, Bowen entered an Alford plea, meaning he pleaded guilty without admitting guilt.
Judge Thad Scudder ordered that Bowen be given credit for time served, which included time at Western State Hospital.
Scudder also ordered a competency evaluation. According to an Oct. 17 report, Bowen was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress, unspecified schizophrenia and other unnamed psychotic disorders, but was deemed competent to stand trial.
According to the police report, just after 1 a.m. on Sept. 23, an officer from the Longview Police Department was dispatched to the 800 block of Ocean Beach Highway, near Starbucks, due to a report of a threat. Once the officer arrived, he talked to a man who said his dog was attacked with a knife or a sharp object.
The dog's owner told police Bowen was antagonizing his dogs for several minutes before he ran up to the truck's window and slashed the owner's Doberman, leaving a 6-inch gash on the left side of the pet's neck.
Bowen's behavior was described by the dog's owner as being "extremely erratic," according to the police report.
Court records show Bowen was convicted of third-degree assault in 2016 in Cowlitz County, as well as second-degree malicious mischief in 2020. He was also psychiatrically hospitalized on involuntary status for 13 days in 2010.
