A former attorney who pleaded guilty last year to domestic violence and animal cruelty for slitting the throat of his family's dog is headed back to court next week.

James Stewart Robinson, 50, is being held in the Jefferson County Jail without bond after authorities contend he violated the rules of his probation. Not only does he face two probation revocation hearings - scheduled for Monday and Tuesday - but he also faces a new domestic violence charge in Shelby County involving his new wife, whom he married only eight months ago, court records show.

Robinson's legal troubles have been ongoing since 2012, when he surrendered to police on Nov. 26 of that year, more than a week after he was charged with cruelty to a dog. His arrest capped a five-month probe that included canine exhumation and an investigation at a Florida animal forensics lab.

Jefferson County sheriff's officials at the time said they were called to the 4600 block of Caldwell Mill Road in southern Jefferson County to investigate a report of animal cruelty. The terrier, Rufus, had been killed by having his throat sliced. Rufus, said Chief Deputy Randy Christian, had become a point of contention in an ongoing divorce case. Both parties wanted custody of the dog. Word of the dog's slaying spread quickly through the community, and sheriff's officials launched what would become a lengthy probe. Christian said Robinson, one of the owners, made repeated claims that his estranged wife had killed Rufus to prevent him from gaining custody. Beyond those claims, authorities said, he was unwilling to cooperate in the probe.

Lawmen, with help from the Greater Birmingham Humane Society, exhumed Rufus' remains and sent them to the University of Florida Animal Forensics Laboratory. The results of the forensic analysis along with electronic data recovered from emails, text messages and voicemails led authorities to conclude Robinson had killed the dog.

According to court records in a domestic violence/harassment charge against Robinson, he texted the picture of Rufus with his throat slashed to his estranged wife, and then left a voicemail that said, "Your day is coming girl." Vestavia Hills police filed the domestic violence charge against him, and his estranged wife sought and obtained a protection order.

Deputy Dwight Sloan, the sheriff's animal cruelty investigator, was able to obtain the felony warrant against Robinson. Robinson in 2015 pleaded guilty to domestic violence and animal cruelty and, in January 2016, was sentenced to probation. He received a five-year suspended sentence and three years of supervised probation on the Class C felony cruelty to animal's case a one-year suspended sentence with two-years supervised probation on the misdemeanor domestic violence charge.

Robinson at that time apologized for his actions. He said he had been a recovering drug addict for almost a decade and had even been helping other lawyers dealing with drug addictions when, in 2009, he developed an addiction to Adderall. His wife filed for divorce in 2012 and he said he became angry, went weeks without sleeping and was on Adderall when he ended up killing Rufus on June 17, 2012.

On June 22, 2012, Robinson was suspended on an interim basis from the practice of law. He subsequently filed a petition to transfer to "disability inactive status" and the request was granted on July 10, 2012.

Robinson remarried in December 2016, according to court records, but the couple was separated by mid-March of this year. In March, records show, Hoover police responded to the family's home on a domestic situation. The new wife told officers Robinson had threatened her with a knife and also tried to physically choke her. She was taken to the Safe House in Shelby County, but did not sign a warrant against her husband for fear of retaliation.

In May, the wife reported that her husband told her he didn't need a knife or gun to kill her, that he could kill her with his hands. In June, he pulled her hair in front of a friend while at a Birmingham area hospital where Robinson was being treated for a suicide attempt.

In late July, the wife met with Robinson's probation officials and told them she had filed a warrant with the Shelby County Sheriff's Office against her husband. She was "visibly shaking and scared,'' according their reports. She showed officers hundreds of text messages, emails and voicemails. "Both officers heard a few of the voicemails and the tone of his voice was alarming,'' they wrote.

The new wife and her children were so afraid of Robinson, authorities said, that they were not staying at their own home. Robinson, according to the documents, sent her pictures of tattoos he had gotten on his arms: one of them was of her name, and the other read, "First & Last." She also sought and received a protection from abuse order against him, claiming he had sent more than 22 emails, 63 texts and had called several times.

Several days later, probation officers met with Robinson, who they described as "visibly nervous." He told them he had attempted suicide at least four times since April 28 and reported he would take either Klonopin or a "huge" dose of blood pressure medication and mix it with alcohol to intensify the effect. He denied making any threats to his current wife.

Alabama Probation and Parole officers determined Robinson was not only a threat to himself, but also a threat to others based on "his instability, numerous suicide attempts, his potential threat of violence justified by the criminal convictions for which he is currently on probation."

A Probation Officers Authorization of Arrest was issued against on July 21, at which time Robinson was locked back up in the Jefferson County Jail, where he remains held without bond.

He is set to be in court in Jefferson County Monday and Tuesday for his probation revocation hearings.