WASHINGTON — A Charles County, Maryland, man has been convicted again on charges that he stabbed and slit the throat of a puppy in the midst of a domestic dispute.
Stephen Eugene Paysinger, 39, of Waldorf, was convicted Tuesday of aggravated animal cruelty. The puppy survived the attack.
Court documents show that on Feb. 24, 2016, Paysinger went into a Waldorf house that he had bought with his girlfriend, who lived there with her three children. She had gotten a protective order against Paysinger, who had to be removed from the house by police when he found out about it.
Later that night, Paysinger returned to the house and went in. He then choked, stabbed and slit the throat of the family’s puppy, and threatened to kill the children, the documents said.
Paysinger had been previously convicted in the incident. He was convicted in October 2016 on the animal cruelty charge as well as four counts of assault and the violation of a protective order, and was sentenced to serve a total of 23 years in prison, including three years for the animal cruelty charge. In December 2017, all the convictions were overturned on after the Court of Appeals ruled that the trial judge improperly barred a defense witness from testifying.
