Puppy Doe Trial Start Bumped To March

QUINCY, MA — The highly anticipate Puppy Doe trial has once again been delayed.

The Norfolk District Attorney's office announced Friday that the trial date for Commonwealth v. Czerkawski in Norfolk Superior Court in Dedham has been moved to March 6. The trial was scheduled to start Jan. 9 but insurmountable witness availability problems caused the move.

The final pre-trial conference is scheduled for Feb. 12.

The move has created the fourth start date for the trial. The trial was originally scheduled to start earlier this year but was delayed due to an assistant district attorney's emergency surgery. The Oct. 30 start was then moved to Jan. 9, but a continuance was requested by the attorney Larry Tipton due to the medical condition of the defendant.

Czerkawski faces several charges including multiple counts of animal abuse. Prosecutors say the native of Poland bought the dog on Craigslist in June 2013 and tortured and abused the pit bull for its few remaining days. The dog, introduced to the public as "Puppy Doe," was found near a playground in August 2013. He was later euthanized due to the severity of his injures.

Following a two month investigation, police identified Czerkawski, who at the time was living in the Quincy home of a woman he was taking care of, as the owner of the dog. He was taking into custody at a hotel in New Britain, Connecticut

Since the arrest, Czerkawski was sentenced to three to five years in prison time for stealing $130,000 from the elderly woman he was hired to take care of and another three to five years for taking $4,500 from St. Lawrence Martyr Parish in New Bedford, where he had stayed for several months in 2012.

Image via Animal Rescue League