Other articles by Kim Smith:

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A Pima County Superior Court judge refused to move forward with a plea agreement Friday when the suspect — who is accused of repeatedly shooting a dog — admitted he didn't understand what rights he'd be giving up.

High school dropout Justin Curren, 20, told Judge Edgar Acuña that, although he couldn't read the offer extended to him by prosecutors, his attorney had gone over it with him and he wanted to accept it.

The proceeding was going normally until Acuña asked Curren if he wanted to give up the constitutional rights he had just listed — including his right to a trial and to remain silent.

Curren first replied he didn't know. After conferring with his attorney, Curren changed his mind and said, "Yes."

Acuña ordered defense attorney Mark Resnick to confer with his client further and scheduled a new hearing for next week.

According to the Pima County Sheriff's Department, Deborah Linda Curren, 44, and Justin Curren, her son, decided to get rid of their 2-year-old pit-bull mix, Knuckles, in 2005 because they thought he was vicious.

Curren and Steven Glenn Sharpe, 28, are accused of taking the dog into the desert near Redington Pass and shooting it repeatedly, but not fatally.

On Thursday, Sharpe entered the same deal offered to Curren. He could receive three years' probation or up to two years in prison. Deborah Curren, 43, turned down a plea agreement. Her trial is scheduled for May.

After spending time with an animal behaviorist, Bullet was adopted, said Jami McDowell, a cruelty-prevention coordinator for the Humane Society of Southern Arizona.