GUILTY WI - Timothy Cregg for killing puppy, Muskegon, 2011

Timothy Allen Cregg, the father-killer now charged with beating his puppy with a hammer, slashing its throat and throwing it still alive in a trash bin for chewing a comforter, will have his mental competency evaluated...

Such examinations typically take many months. It's expected to result in more incarceration time for Cregg than if he pleaded guilty as charged.

That's because his state sentencing guidelines are expected to be so low, based on his history of no prior felony convictions, that his conviction would likely result in a sentence of only a few months in the Muskegon County Jail.

That's true despite the fact that Cregg shot his father to death in 1983 and dumped his body in a rural ditch.

Cregg has no conviction from that confessed killing because he was found "not guilty by reason of insanity" based on a diagnosis of paranoid schizophrenia with delusions.

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Judge James Graves sentenced the 48-year-old man to five years of probation for killing a puppy in October of 2011.

Unfortunately, that was the maximum sentence available - a fact which is unsettling to the judge...

Judge: "The concern is, how do we protect the community if you relapse?"
Cregg: "I take my medication."
Judge: "Well, what were you doing when you beat the puppy to death with a hammer?"
Cregg: "But the dog ruined so much stuff."

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Court records show that, in the puppy case, Graves last December referred Cregg for forensic examination, meaning psychiatric exam, with the consent of the prosecution and defense. On Feb. 9, state examiners found Cregg mentally incompetent to stand trial, and Graves signed a commitment order.

Court records show that Cregg on April 24 was declared “restored to competency,” meaning sane enough to participate in his own defense at trial. At that time the issue of “criminal responsibility” – meaning whether Cregg was legally insane at the time of the crime – was still being explored.

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“He was chewing up three pairs of tennis shoes … (and) a comforter,” Cregg told MLive to explain his actions after saying he had been taking his prescribed medication at the time...

Cregg said he expects to be safe now that he's free on closely supervised probation for five years, the longest possible term. Conditions include mental health treatment, requirements that he take prescribed medication, avoiding alcohol and nonprescribed drugs and not possess any animal. Cregg has said he had been drinking and smoking marijuana before hurting the puppy

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