All charges will be held against a West Virginia man charged in Butler with attacking a dog after his case was refiled at the district level.

John G. Riordan, 48, first faced a felony charge of aggravated cruelty to animals, but the charge was reduced during a preliminary hearing in October after a former assistant district attorney determined that the injuries to the dog were not life threatening.

But District Attorney Richard Goldinger disagreed, refiling the case and sending it back to the preliminary level.

After hearings were held earlier this month before county Judge William Shaffer, the judge determined that prosecutors presented enough evidence for the felony charge to be held for trial for Riordan's alleged attack of a springer spaniel with a sledgehammer in Summit Township on Sept. 21, 2019.

Along with the felony charge, Riordan faces misdemeanors of driving under the influence and cruelty to animals along with a summary vehicle charge.

State police arrested Riordan on Sept. 21, 2019, after they said he attacked Jason Anthony's 13-year-old dog with a sledgehammer while staying at Anthony's home on Green Manor Drive in Summit Township.

The alleged attack left the dog with a badly swollen snout and jaw, missing and broken teeth and mental trauma, according to police and Anthony.

After Goldinger refiled the felony, Riordan's lawyer, Michael Jewart, argued that the case was bound over to the county level only after the felony charge was dropped. He argued the case should return to the preliminary level for due process to be observed.

Jewart's request was granted and, on Aug. 4, Shaffer presided over the redo.

During that hearing, Anthony recounted the Sept. 23 attack on his dog.

“There was blood everywhere, all up to the ceiling,” Anthony said during the hearing. “And I started to look around the rest of my house, and there was more blood throughout most of the home.”

He told police that Riordan had been staying at his house and was the only one there with the dog for the “few hours” he was away.

Anthony said that his dog died March 3 after recovering from the attack. He said veterinarians did not know what was wrong with the dog.

On Sept. 11, Trooper Francis M. Walters presented his observations from when he responded to Anthony's call to the home on the day of the incident. “There was blood on the walls, on the doors, a tooth laying on the dining room table,” Walters said. He also noted the dog came up to him with a wagging tail when he entered the house and jumped up on him.

Walters arrested Riordan soon after that for the alleged attack.

Riordan's case will now move toward a trial even though Butler County, like most of the state's counties, is not holding trials currently because of coronavirus concerns.