It's not a homophobic thing (I am nonbinary and assumed to be female. I use the term 'partner' because of this). The issue is that the people who chose to press the charges contacted the media and he was demonized in every article speaking about it. He was in the newspaper and they used only prosecutions side of the story, as well as printing misinformation, stating he "bashed the animals head in with a rock and drowned it." That's not true, AND not the facts that the prosecution and defense agreed to when he entered his guilty plea.

The facts: He threw a rock in the animals direction after it followed him out of the house. He, assuming the animal was dead, then attempted to hide it's body by putting it in the river. There was no autopsy, and so the cause of death was not determined (whether it was blunt force trauma or drowning). What actually happened (my biased views): One of the people pressing charges had changed all of his passwords to his computer and online accounts, including his email. That same person had posted on an online forum they both frequented bragging about the fact. My partner went to the house to figure out wtf had happened, but the person would not interact, so he entered their home. He was legally allowed to be there because he had paid rent to them earlier that month, but since he entered through the landlords suit, it was considered a B&E. Person was hiding, so my partner left, the animal followed him. After hearing police sirens, he threw a rock in the animals direction to scare it off. It hit the animal in the head. He flipped shit. He'd known this dog for a long time and thought if they found it he'd go to jail for, well, forever because he was a teenager who didn't know shit about the law. So he attempted to hide it in a river, where it was later found.

I think this is important to help you understand what kind of person he is, and the fact that he did not mean to harm the animal. He plead guilty. All of the evidence they had was circumstantial, it would have been a cakewalk for any competent lawyer to get him off scott-free. But he still plead guilty because he wanted to take responsibility, apologize to the people he hurt and help them find solace and grieve for their dog.

But they still called the media, they still talked about him as if he was a demon, and because of that he is now in danger where he is. Apparently, as soon as the media gets ahold of your story, it's pretty common for this kind of thing to happen regardless of the crime.