A 32-year-old Thornton man who allegedly shot his neighbor in the back of the head after an argument over how the victim disciplined his dog was formally charged Tuesday with first-degree murder after deliberation in Adams County District Court.
Michael Kourosh Sadeghi was advised in court Tuesday morning of the murder charge. A preliminary hearing is set for April 16.
Sadeghi is being held without bond in the Adams County Detention Facility in connection to the death of his 42-year-old neighbor, Dustin Schmidt.
Vicki Branaghan, 42, said her partner was killed on the evening of March 27 following a brief, but heated, argument that erupted after Schmidt swatted German-shepherd mix dog, Bruno. Bruno had jumped their back fence and was hanging by his leash when Schmidt pulled the dog back over to his yard, Branaghan has said.
“We were all three standing there,” Branaghan said. “Mike pulled the gun out and shot Dustin in the back of the head five times. I was just a few feet away. Mike turned around and walked back to his house as though nothing happened.”
Branaghan said she had a friendly relationship with Sadeghi, who lived alone in a two-story home that shared a back fence with the home where she lived with Schmidt.
In October, Branaghan adopted Bruno from an animal shelter. He repeatedly jumped the 5-foot privacy fence into Sadeghi’s yard, she said. Branaghan and Schmidt ran electric wires on the fence and got a shock collar, but Bruno could not be stopped from leaping over the fence.
Branaghan said her fiance was a manager at a Longmont warehouse.
