SOUTH KINGSTOWN — A Superior Court jury yesterday found a local man guilty of maliciously killing his pit bull by shooting the dog in the head and then burying it in the backyard after it got loose two years ago.

The jury deliberated about 2½ hours before convicting Edgar Goulet, 60, of maliciously killing an animal and possessing a sawed-off shotgun, concluding a four-day trial in Washington County Superior Court, according to the attorney general’s office.

Goulet’s neighbor, Heidi Eklund, was raking leaves May 1, 2006, when the pit bull, Sparky, ran into her yard followed by its owner, according to the case presented by Special Assistant Attorney General Mark Trovato. Goulet threatened to kill the dog because it wouldn’t listen as he led it back into his yard at 20 Nautilus Drive East. Eklund pleaded with him not to.

Eklund heard Goulet start up a backhoe, followed by a gunshot and a puff of smoke. Sparky streaked by, prompting Eklund to tell her mother to call the police.

Goulet told officers that he had shot one of his dogs, but that they wouldn’t be able to find it, the prosecutor said. Detectives unearthed Sparky’s body, after getting a search warrant, from a fresh mound of dirt with a dog tag next to it.

In addition to the .22-caliber rifle the police say Goulet used to shoot the dog, officers found a sawed-off shotgun tucked into his couch cushions and rounds of ammunition inside the house, reports show. The bullet found inside the dog’s body could not be matched to the rifle because it was too damaged.

Goulet claimed, in a case presented by his lawyer, Paul DiMaio, that he killed the dog in self-defense. DiMaio did not return a phone call placed to his office yesterday afternoon.

At the time of his arrest, Goulet said he shot Sparky after the pit bull turned on him twice that day. The dog had bitten him at least a half-dozen times during the three years he had tried to train it, he said, and he feared it would hurt his neighbors’ children.

He kept the sawed-off shotgun unloaded in his couch to scare off intruders, he said.

A former Marine who served in the Vietnam War, Goulet said he was on disability for post-traumatic stress disorder.

Attorney General Patrick C. Lynch praised yesterday’s verdict.

“This is an important verdict both for those few misguided and maybe even disturbed individuals who think it’s acceptable to abuse animals, in any way, and the vast majority of the public, who may wonder if those who do abuse animals are held accountable. They are,” said Lynch.

The advocacy group Defenders of Animal agreed. Its director, Dennis Tabella, accused Goulet of selling pit bull puppies without regard for who they go to.

“These people who commit these crimes rarely do much time,” Tabella said. “I think he should spend time in prison.”

Judge Stephen P. Nugent ordered Goulet held without bail until his sentencing July 14. He faces up to two years in prison and a $1,000 fine, or both, for the malicious killing count, and up to 10 years in prison, a $5,000 fine, or both, for the weapons charge.

kmulvane@projo.com