Case of battered Chihuahua now in hands of jury

TAMPA (FOX 13) - Little Dixie only weighs five pounds, but prosecutors say that didn't stop defendant Arthur Jewell from unleashing his fury upon her.

Wearing an orange jail jumpsuit, Dixie's former owner, Donald Upton said he found his little Chihuahua barely alive at his campsite.

"I heard my dog whining. I picked her up, her eye was out of her head, she couldn't hardly walk, she was trying to get back in the tent," said Upton.

Dixie lost her left eye and suffered several internal injuries, but she did survive and continues to recover.

Upton pointed the finger at Jewell. It's no secret, he told the jury there's bad blood between the two.

He said, after finding his battered dog, he ran for help and ran right into Arthur Jewell at a gas station.

"He has a gas can in his hand and a ladder in the other and he comes running at me, 'I'm gonna get you like I got your dog,'" said Upton.

But Jewell denied doing anything to the dog. The defense says, other than a three-time convicted felon's word, there is no physical or forensic evidence proving Jewell hurt Dixie.

Defense attorney William Shelhart said, "there is no eyewitness testimony placing Mr. Jewell at Mr. Upton's campsite where the dog was injured."

The defense says investigators never went to the campsite to look for witnesses or evidence. They say it comes down to the word of a felon who seems to hold a grudge. 

Jewell faces animal cruelty charges. The jury was deliberating Thursday evening and a verdict had not yet come down at 6 o'clock.