One bright sunny day in August 2002, a dachshund named Noodle went to Jones Beach. There, his owner Yoichi Nakayama drowned him in the surf.

That was more than 20 years ago, but Nassau County District Attorney Anne T. Donnelly still remembers the case. She prosecuted Nakayama during her time in the Nassau County Animal Crimes Unit, which she oversaw for more than a decade.