CHICORA — A West Virginia man accused of hitting and badly injuring a dog with a sledgehammer waived his preliminary hearing Tuesday.

But under an agreement reached between prosecutors and his attorney, John G. Riordan, 47, of Rock Cave, no long faces a felony charge of aggravated cruelty to an animal in the case.

State police arrested Riordan on Sept. 21 after they say he attacked Jason Anthony's 13-year-old springer spaniel Bailey with a sledgehammer while staying at the home of Anthony, his former friend, on Green Manor Drive in Summit Township.

At Riordan's preliminary hearing before District Judge Lewis Stoughton in Chicora, Butler County Assistant District Attorney Russ Karl agreed to change the felony to a second-degree misdemeanor charge of animal cruelty. The other charges were unchanged.

Riordan waived all of the charges to court. His attorney, Michael Zunder, declined to comment following the proceedings.

Asked the reason for the decision, Karl said, “Because the dog is mending just fine, and that's good news.”

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