ESCANABA — A Rock man who shot and killed his neighbor’s dog asked for his delay of sentence to be modified to allow him to bow hunt.

David Ralph Hayes, age 66, of 3474 St. Nicholas 31st Road, faced charges of killing/torturing – third degree, but sentencing for the alleged crime is delayed for the next 12 months.

Judge John Economopoulos handed down the sentencing in the 47th Circuit Court back on Oct. 21.

One condition attached to the delay in sentence is that Hayes may not use any object as a weapon.

Following the October sentencing, Hayes spoke with his attorney, Trent Stupak, about amending the sentence to allow him to bow hunt on his property.

Stupak called Hayes to the witness stand and asked where he would hunt, what he would hunt with, and how he would store the weapon.

Hayes said he wanted to use his recurve and compound bows to hunt within his 200-acre property but did not plan to travel to hunt. He also said he had a secure vault to store the bows. Hayes stated that he was hoping to be able hunt as early as Friday.

“I think the limited request is reasonable in these circumstances. As the Court recalls from his sentencing on October 21st, he doesn’t have any previous violations of the law involving weapons,” Stupak said.

He added that Hayes has not violated any condition of his bond and has removed all firearms from his possession.

The prosecution argued against the modification, saying the underlying offense involved the use of a weapon on Hayes’ property.

Prosecutor Beth Wickwire argued that allowing Hayes to use a bow after his offense committed with a firearm would be akin to an individual on the delay of sentence due to a substance charge being allowed to consume alcohol.

“The victims do oppose this request. They’re not here today but they have communicated with our office that they do oppose this request,” Wickwire said.

She added that from the prosecution’s perspective, not allowing Hayes to go bow hunting is a small sacrifice.

A representative from the Michigan Department of Corrections (MDOC) was present and agreed with Wickwire that the request should be denied.

Economopoulos recognized that the defense’s motion was not a big ask; however, it does not fall within the scope of modifying the provisions.

“So, while the request is not something that is tailored specifically to the wrong that he did, in a sense that you didn’t use a bow and arrow to do what you did. It doesn’t hit that close to home. It is certainly within the ZIP code of areas of concern when it comes to your conduct and your behavior that brings you to the jurisdiction of this Court. So, for that reason, the request will be denied,” Economopoulos said.

Following the decision, Stupak wanted to clarify that Hayes could allow family members to hunt on his property if they kept their weapons locked in their vehicles.

The prosecution opposed this as part of his delay, which is that he is not allowed to have a weapon within his area of control.

Stupak said he believes the request is reasonable as long as they are stored properly.

Economopoulos wrestled with the area of control aspect, ultimately saying that a member of the family hunting on Hayes’ property puts the weapon in the area of control for Hayes.

“If we have a careless hunter who leaves a weapon unattended, for whatever reason, and that would be in his area of control,” Economopoulos said.

“For that reason, I’m still going to deny the request.”