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Greene County prosecutors earlier withdrew a more serious charge of reckless endangerment against 37-year-old Charles Cleaver, and a district judge dismissed a charge of discharging a gun in an occupied structure.
State police say Cleaver came home from a bar and asked his wife where his .22-caliber rifle was about 2:30 a.m. March 15. His wife told police Cleaver found the gun and shot the cat as it played with a toy nearby, then threw the still-moving animal outside.
Police say they arrived to find the dead cat outside, and Cleaver asleep inside, not far from a bullet hole and blood stains.
Cleaver has pleaded not guilty.
