Judge dismisses case of puppy in the mail

The case against a woman who tried to mail a puppy from a Minneapolis post office to Georgia has been dismissed.

Hennepin County District Judge Charles Porter ruled Wednesday in favor of Stacey Champion, 40, of Minneapolis, citing "mental deficiency."

Champion had been charged with misdemeanor animal cruelty for putting a four-month-old black poodle-Schnauzer mix in a sealed box in January 2011 and trying to mail it to her son in Atlanta for his 11th birthday.

Champion told postal employees the box contained a toy robot, but staffers at the post office near Loring Park discovered the puppy, named Guess, after the box fell off the counter.

That intervention kept the dog from being flown in the airliner's unheated and unpressurized cargo area, a trip that would almost certainly have been fatal.

Champion attended an administrative hearing with hopes of getting the dog back but was turned down. The dog was eventually adopted by a Minneapolis woman picked in a drawing with about 50 potential owners who wanted to take the dog home.

"Ms. Champion appeared in mental health court Wednesday, and the court ruled that she was incompetent to stand trial," city spokesman Matt Lindstrom said in a statement. "Because of that ruling, the law requires that the charges be dropped." The Hennepin County attorney's office will be evaluating the next steps, Lindstrom said.