A Gilroy man who already has four felony counts of assault with a deadly weapon under his belt may face a 25-years-to-life sentence in the death of his wife's six-week-old chihuahua puppy. Bud Wally Ruiz, during an argument in which his wife was asking him to leave the house, threw the bag in which he'd put the dog (which he'd given to his wife as a Mother's Day gift) against a wall, killing the dog. The dog's name was Teddy.

Sounding like she suffers from a bit of battered wife syndrome, Marcella Ruiz defends her husband saying he didn't mean to harm the dog. He had been intending, she says, to throw the dog bag back at her when she told him he couldn't take the dog. But he missed. She also insists, "He never hurt me, he never hit me."

Under the "three-strikes" law, Ruiz former violent crimes could spell a life sentence in this case. He's charged with two felony counts of cruelty to animals and one misdemeanor count of spousal battery.