{"id":172775,"date":"2026-02-20T11:30:34","date_gmt":"2026-02-20T11:30:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/172775\/"},"modified":"2026-02-20T11:30:34","modified_gmt":"2026-02-20T11:30:34","slug":"judge-says-owner-in-animal-abuse-case-should-not-get-dog-back","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/172775\/","title":{"rendered":"Judge says owner in animal abuse case should not get dog back"},"content":{"rendered":"

A packed courtroom broke out in cheers Thursday afternoon after Judge Tanisa Jeffers ordered that Boone, an 8-year-old Blue Lacy seen in a viral video being abused on an apartment balcony, be separated from his owner.<\/p>\n

Jeffers also ordered Boone\u2019s owner, John Kaschak, to pay $898 to the Austin Animal Center to cover treatment and boarding expenses. That cost could increase up to $1,350 depending on how long Boone remains at the shelter.<\/p>\n

\u201cI do find John Stewart Kaschak is the owner of Boone, and that Boone was cruelly treated,\u201d Jeffers said before delivering her ruling.<\/p>\n

Kaschak, 35, was arrested last week<\/a> after the Austin Police Department found probable cause that he was involved in the viral video, which shows Boone being shoved with patio furniture and repeatedly hit with a belt and a towel. Kaschak was released from jail on Feb. 13 on a $7,500 surety bond, according to county documents<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The video sparked outrage on social media and spurred community organizing on Austin\u2019s subreddit page. More than 3,000 people upvoted a post about Kaschak\u2019s civil hearing<\/a>, leading to a packed courtroom.<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

Lorianne Willett<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

KUT News<\/p>\n

People gather after a hearing in a Travis County Courthouse in reference to a dog, Boone, who was seen being beaten in a video that was posted to social media. <\/p>\n

\u201cThis is my first time ever doing something like this, but it\u2019s because I care so much for that dog\u2019s safety,\u201d said Austin resident Tanisha Hinojosa, who went to the hearing after seeing a post about Boone on Facebook. \u201cI\u2019m just so happy that Boone gets to go to a forever family home. Hopefully that\u2019s the next steps, that he goes and gets nothing but love.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kaschak was absent from the hearing but was represented by attorney Mac Bozza. In his closing statement, Bozza did not deny any of the abuse allegations, but said that Kaschak requests to maintain ownership of Boone. Kaschak has 10 days to appeal Jeffers\u2019 decision, which could delay Boone being eligible for adoption.<\/p>\n

Julie Oliver, a member of the Austin Animal Welfare Coalition, said Jeffer\u2019s order was a \u201cpositive step forward\u201d for holding animal abusers accountable.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustin loves animals. We are a dog-loving city. And the dog lovers showed up this afternoon, during the workday,\u201d she said. \u201cI\u2019m really grateful, in some ways, that this went viral. Because it did bring justice for this dog.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Lorianne Willett<\/p>\n

\/<\/p>\n

KUT News<\/p>\n

Witness Melissa Folger looks down in the middle of answering a question during a hearing regarding John Kaschak and his dog, Boone. Folger took the video of John Kaschak abusing Boone, earlier this month.<\/p>\n

In her testimony, Melissa Folger, who lives above Kaschak in a downtown apartment building, said she took her phone out to record Kaschak after she heard Boone barking and yelping and saw him \u201cin clear distress.\u201d Folger said she posted the videos anonymously on Reddit after two attempts to get police involved were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

Christian Esquivel, a detective in the APD\u2019s animal cruelty unit, said at the hearing that he found patio furniture, two belts and a towel that he believed matched the items in the video during a search of Kaschak\u2019s home. Esquivel also said he found blood and dog hair on a bed sheet that has been collected for evidence and is being tested.<\/p>\n

Austin Animal Center communications specialist Elizabeth Ferrer said folks can help by fostering and adopting other dogs at the shelter to relieve the stress of overcrowding for the animals that can\u2019t be adopted. Ferrer said the shelter has 21 animals in its care from animal cruelty cases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A packed courtroom broke out in cheers Thursday afternoon after Judge Tanisa Jeffers ordered that Boone, an 8-year-old…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":172776,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[69831,132,69825,134,133,4761,69826,69827,69828,69829,69830],"class_list":{"0":"post-172775","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-austin","8":"tag-animal-cruelty-case-austin","9":"tag-austin","10":"tag-austin-animal-center-adoptions","11":"tag-austin-headlines","12":"tag-austin-news","13":"tag-austin-police-department","14":"tag-boone","15":"tag-how-to-adopt-from-austin-animal-center","16":"tag-john-kaschak","17":"tag-viral-animal-abuse-video-austin","18":"tag-when-is-john-kaschaks-trial-austin"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172775","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=172775"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/172775\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/172776"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=172775"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=172775"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=172775"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}