Following the arrest of Lance Durden, Ph.D., Zoology, for one count of animal cruelty in late December, he will plead not guilty against charges filed against him by Georgia Southern University Police.

On Dec. 28, Durden, a GSU biology professor, was arrested by GSU Department of Public safety when Officer William Kicklighter noticed Durden’s dog attack and kill a cat after being encouraged by Durden, who kicked the cat toward his dog after the cat had appeared to be deceased, according to the police report.

Durden’s attorney, Dan Snipes, requested that the court hearing be moved to a later date, according to Bulloch County Solicitor General Joseph Cowart.

“By and through his attorney, Dan Snipes, Dr. Durden waived his 17 January 2012 arraignment and requested that the matter be placed on a bench trial/hearing calendar in the future,” Cowart said. “A trial/hearing date has not been set.”

At Durden’s arraignment, Snipes entered a not guilty plea to the charges against him.

Durden is still employed by GSU, Brooks Keel, president of the university, said.

“We have no plans to do anything with his employment at this time, pending the full investigation of exactly what happened.” Keel said.

“There’s two sides to every story, no question about that,” Keel said.

“I think out of fairness we have seen only one side of the story. I’m sure that both sides of that story will come out once the legal process works its way on out and we anxiously await to see how that turns out,” Keel said. “A person’s innocent until proven guilty in this country.

I think the allegations are very disturbing, there’s no question about that.”

There will be a process conducted if Durden is found guilty, Keel said.

“There’s a process that we have here at Georgia Southern that if somebody is going to be hired that previously has a misdemeanor, there is a committee that is formed that takes a look at whether or not an individual should be hired based on the job that they have and the particular misdemeanor that it is. My assumption is that if he in fact is found guilty, it would be a similar process to determine exactly what next steps need to be taken,” Keel said.

Durden’s dog was picked up by Bulloch County Animal Control Officer Christopher Ivey on the site, according to the police report. The current state and location of Durden’s dog is still unknown.