SALT LAKE CITY, Utah, Nov. 4, 2016 (Gephardt Daily) — A man who pleaded guilty to two counts of torture of a companion animal received his sentence on Friday.
Mikah Johnson, 20, admitted to beating a 4-month-old border collie, named Moose, multiple times before the puppy’s death on August 18, 2015.
Johnson’s attorney asked the court for a reduced probationary period and no further jail time. Instead, Judge Katherine Bernards-Goodman sentenced Johnson to a year in jail and three years of probation.
The eight months Johnson has spent in jail will be subtracted from his one-year sentence.
Moose belonged to Johnson’s girlfriend. Prosecutors suggested that the abuse was Johnson’s way of getting even with his girlfriend when he was angry with her.
According to charging documents, Johnson’s roommates and a neighbor reported hearing Johnson beat the dog on multiple occasions. Johnson’s girlfriend reported seeing him kick the dog down stairs at the apartment, resulting in a cut to the dog’s chin.
An autopsy on the dog showed he had been the victim of at least two recent incidents of blunt-force trauma, as well as severe bruising, extensive hemorrhaging in his lungs, a fractured liver and jaw, corneal ulcers and missing teeth.
And people who are addicts get longer sentences…so sad
SO glad to see this being treated as a serious offense! It’s about time!
1 year isn’t long enough! This guy is clearly a psychopath and will be living out his sick fantasies, most likely on people, in no time at all. I feel bad for that defenseless puppy who had no chance at all.