Jury Gives Man 10 Years, $90K Fine, For Torturing & Killing Dogs

NEW BOSTON, Texas–A Simms, Texas, man was sentenced Thursday to a decade in prison – the maximum sentence – after a Bowie County jury found him guilty of nine felony counts of animal cruelty involving dogs and puppies.

Stuart Duncan Hammonds, 25, must also pay a $90,000 fine, $10,000 for each dog.

Hammonds solicited dogs from people advertising them online and took them to his rural Bowie County property where he used ligatures to strangle the dogs, and also beat, shot and drove over the animals, according to court records. Police also began receiving calls from citizens describing a man in a distinctive vehicle picking up people’s pets.

“Law enforcement is well aware that these cases are important to the citizens of Bowie County as pets often become cherished family members,” Bowie County District Attorney-elect Kelley Crisp said. “The extensive investigation and prosecution of these felony offenses resulted in the jury sentencing to the maximum amount of punishment and fines allowed by law.”

A witness told investigators that Hammonds would pick up and take home dogs and puppies belonging to other people and would get animals through multiple online sources. The witness reported that they had seen Hammonds kill a neighbor’s dogs and puppies by “choking them and slamming them around until they died,” the affidavit said.

The animals’ remains were left scattered around Hammonds’ camper trailer, with some carcasses outside the door. When investigators visited the property where Hammonds was living in rural Bowie County in mid-October 2024, they could reportedly smell the odor of decay and observed the skeletal remains of numerous canines, the affidavit said.

One witness testified that she made inquiries in the Simms community regarding missing pet canines and suspected that her community was missing 29 pets that had been taken by a man in a dark blue Ford SUV with distinctive features.

Near a camper where Hammonds was living and scattered about a barn on the property investigators found the carcasses of seven dogs, the affidavit said. Other remains were discovered beneath a rubber mat and cardboard box near the barn, the affidavit said.

Investigators listed the remains as belonging to dogs described as: an adult female tan and white Pitbull-type, three six-month-old mixed breed puppies, two black and tan hound-type dogs, a German Shepherd, a black and white Great Dane, an adult female mixed-breed dog, a Pitbull dog of an unknown color, and two Beagle-type dogs, according to the affidavit.

Hammonds was charged with 12 felony counts of animal cruelty but the jury convicted him of nine. Under Texas law, Hammonds must serve each 10-year sentence at the same time.

“I’m thankful to the citizens for the information they provided that aided in the investigation and prosecution of this case,” Crisp said. “I am also grateful for the work of the Bowie County Sheriff’s Office, particularly investigator Michelle Alexander and staff member Gavin Bailey.”

Hammonds was represented at trial by Vidol Miller. Crisp and Assistant District Attorney Bradley Akins represented the state.

District Judge John Tidwell presided over the trial.