SAVANNAH, Ga. () – A man accused of running a dog fighting ring in Savannah was in court Tuesday.

Isaiah Goodman, 35, appeared in court with his attorney and entered a plea of not guilty. With that, Goodman has requested a jury trial and waved his right to formal hearing.

Goodman allegedly made dogs fight each other in November 2024 and is facing 27 charges in relation.

The charges include 12 counts of cruelty to animals, nine counts of dog fighting and six counts of aggravated cruelty to animals.

During Tuesday’s appearance, Goodman’s attorney expressed a concern that it may be difficult to differentiate between the charges.

“There is no way to distinguish one count of cruelty the animal counts as follows, there is no way we can distinguish one from the other, but we’ll be following the law to that,” he said.

Goodman allegedly committed the dog fighting crimes while out on bond for felony and malice murder charges stemming from a death in a 2020 Garden City shooting.

Court records showed Goodman was released because his charges were not filed in time.

Goodman is still facing the murder charges in addition to the dog fighting charges.

Dates for either of those trials are unknown at this time.