ROCHESTER — A judge has denied a motion to dismiss a felony animal cruelty charge against a Rochester man in his dog’s death last spring.

Fifty-eight-year-old Kirk Edward Rucker is accused of leaving his dog in a car for several hours on May 22. The outside temperature was 80 degrees.

Rucker’s attorney, David Jones, argued that there was insufficient evidence that Rucker acted intentionally.

The defense submitted a report from the University of Minnesota veterinary lab that said the cause of the dog’s death was not apparent.

But Judge Debra Jacobson said that police reports establish sufficient evidence for a jury to find that Rucker’s conduct was intentional and the cause of the dog’s death.

Click here for the Herald’s free daily news e-mail.