Man sentenced to 6 months in jail for stomping on girlfriend's dog

WEST JORDAN — A man convicted of stomping on his girlfriend's puppy was sentenced Monday to six months in jail.

"What you did, sir, was just inexcusable," 3rd District Judge Terry Christiansen told David Stepper before sentencing him.

Stepper, 42, pleaded guilty in December to aggravated cruelty to an animal, a class A misdemeanor. In December 2010, he and girlfriend Rebecca Johnson got into an argument that ended with the death of her Pomeranian puppy named Cooper. Prosecutors contend that Stepper, who is over 6 feet tall and weighs 275 pounds, stomped on the dog.

But during sentencing Monday, Stepper pleaded with the judge that he didn't know what happened to the animal.

"I wished none of this ever happened. It's the most horrible thing that's ever happened in my life," he said. "I'm not a violent person, your honor. ... I'm a caring, giving person. I'm not an evil horrible person, your honor."

Prosecutor Melanie Serassio painted a much different picture of Stepper. She brought up his past history of shooting and killing a dog in Montana and said he also drove to Montana from Utah to severely beat his ex- girlfriend's new boyfriend.

She also read Johnson's original statement to investigators in which she said Stepper not only threatened to kill her that night, but said he'd "gut her like a deer" and hang her body from the ceiling fan.

"Frankly, I feel a year in jail is not enough time, your honor," Serassio told the judge.

Stepper said the deer gutting comments were "taken out of context" and that "it was a joke."

Christiansen, however, sided with the prosecution, saying those comments were simply "scary."

"You've got a real anger control issue," Christiansen said. "I think you need to get some sort of anger management issues resolved in your life."

Before sentencing, defense attorney Barton Warren Jr. said a combination of pain medication, alcohol and frustration caused his client to act out. He contended he did not stomp on the dog, but the dog may have been injured while Stepper and Johnson were arguing.

"I don't know if we'll ever know what happened," he said.

Still, Warren said his client was taking responsibility for what happened, even if he didn't stomp on the puppy.

He pleaded with the judge not to impose additional jail time — Stepper had already served eight days when he was originally arrested — noting that his client had already lost two jobs because of court appearances and had been severely vilified on news media message boards and other Internet sites.

"They painted a picture of him as the worst monster we've heard of in a long time," he said.

Related:

Sandy man pleads guilty to stomping dog to death

A man accused of stomping on his girlfriend's puppy and killing it pleaded guilty to the charges leveled against him Tuesday.

Johnson, who sat close to Stepper in court Monday, spoke on his behalf rather than against him.

"I know if he could go back and change things he would," she told the judge. "Things have changed since then. He's a different person. All of this has straightened him out.

Johnson said she did not want a no-contact order issued between her and Stepper.

But prosecutors said Stepper is also a very good manipulator and records show that Johnson's story has changed several times over the months the more Stepper tried to make contact with her.

Stepper also addressed allegations that he had previously killed another dog and beat up a man on separate occasions. In the prior dog shooting case, he said he was protecting his children from the dog who was attacking one of his children. Stepper said he was never charged in that case.

In the beating incident, he said it was a result of him having to defend himself after catching his girlfriend in bed with another man who attacked him.

A Salt Lake County sheriff's deputy placed Stepper in handcuffs after the sentencing was imposed and took him immediately into custody.

Email: preavy@ksl.com

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