ohmidog!

The trial for former Michigan State University medical student Andrew David Thompson, accused of killing a dozen Italian greyhounds, ended before it started yesterday when he pleaded guilty to three felony charges of animal killing or torture.

“I got upset, I hit the dog and it died,” Thompson told Ingham Circuit Judge Paula Manderfield, referring to one of the killings with he was charged. The plea, part of a last-minute agreement with prosecutors, came as his trial was to begin.

His sentencing is June 13.

The maximum penalty for each charge is four years imprisonment, according to Mlive.com.

Prosecutors say Thompson, 24 and originally from Arizona, threw the dogs against a wall, hit them and grabbed them by the neck. Authorities say Thompson killed 10 dogs — all Italian greyhounds — while he lived at an apartment in Okemos and three more while living in East Lansing.

He was suspended by MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine on June 23, a day before charges against him were authorized.

In earlier court appearances, some of Thompson’s roommates and acquaintances testified they often heard dogs yelping, and they occasionally saw Thompson hurt the dogs or throw them across the room.

According to an animal control officer, Thompson admitted under questioning that he killed the Italian greyhounds, bought new ones and killed them too.

Only one of his dogs is believed to have survived — a female discovered injured and malnourished inside a closet of his apartment on June 21, 2011.

That dog, named Chloe at the time, recovered from her injuries and was adopted by the veterinarian that treated her.

“She was bruised with obvious signs of trauma, she was bleeding and most likely bleeding internally,” Dr. Joyce Heideman, of Southside Animal Hospital, told WILX. Heideman, who adopted the dog, said she is now named Jezabelle.