A newly styled haircut, fashionable suit and a calm demeanor characterized Andrew Thompson during a brief court appearance Wednesday — a far cry from the blue jumpsuit and handcuffs he wore only a few months ago.
Thompson, a 24-year-old former MSU graduate student, is facing 13 counts of animal killing/torture in Meridian Township and East Lansing for allegedly killing several Italian greyhounds while living in apartments in those municipalities.
He appeared in Lansing’s 30th Circuit Court before Judge Paula Manderfield again Wednesday in the hopes of removing his GPS tether, one of the conditions of his current freedom after posting 10 percent of his total bond in both cases in October, 2011, amounting to $10,000.
Thompson spent more than 100 days in jail after turning himself in to Meridian Township police on June 25, 2011.
Thompson currently is staying with friends in Okemos as he awaits trial. Along with the tether, Thompson also is required to abide by a 10 p.m. curfew.
Stacia Buchanan, Thompson’s attorney, argued the $360 a month price tag for Thompson’s tether was too high for her client, who currently is working part time in a retail position.
Thompson was suspended from MSU’s College of Osteopathic Medicine pending results of the case, but left the university earlier this year and no longer is attending school.
Buchanan said Thompson has been cooperative with the court up to this point and believed the court would trust him to continue cooperating by removing the GPS tether.
Thompson ultimately was denied the request to remove the tether. Manderfield said she based the decision on the fact that Thompson hails from Arizona and because in her opinion, the price does not seem unreasonable.
Manderfield said she would like to see the trial commence as soon as possible, potentially within the next several weeks.
A trial date has not yet been set.
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