NOPE...NOT ENOUGH PUNISHMENT : SC man gets 10 years for dragging dog behind truck
A South Carolina man was given the state’s maximum penalty for animal cruelty after being found guilty of dragging a dog behind his truck for 2 miles. The dog, now named Andra Grace, was taken to a veterinary clinic wrapped in bloody blankets, her bones and tendons exposed, Cynthia Sarachino told Judge Letitia Verdin.
Verdin sentenced Roger Dennis Owens of Greenville to five years in prison on Tuesday for ill treatment of animals. In addition, Owens received another 5 1/2 years for habitual traffic offenses.
According to prosecutors, Owens dragged a pit bull mix behind his truck for at least 2 miles in Marietta on Nov. 29th and kept going even after witnesses tried to get him to stop.
“This is one of the cruelest things that I’ve seen since I’ve been on the bench,” the Judge said.
WCNC reports:
Witnesses reported seeing the dog tied to an open truck bed with her front paws on the gate while her hind legs were dragged across the road, said Assistant Solicitor Julie Anders. The dog was running, trying to keep up with the truck, which was being driven at a high rate of speed, Anders said.
Two witnesses pursued Owens, following a trail of blood on the road until they found the dog, abandoned, with severe injuries. Anders said.
The dog, now named Andra Grace, was taken to a veterinary clinic wrapped in bloody blankets, her bones and tendons exposed, Cynthia Sarachino told the judge. She is an animal rescue volunteer who was at the clinic when the dog was brought in.
“She was and is an innocent, good and gentle creature that did not deserve this heinous act,” Sarachino said.
A fundraiser was held to help pay for the dog’s medical treatment. More than $16,000 was donated. She has since been adopted.
Owens’ attorney, public defender Elizabeth Powers Price, said her client has cared for dogs his whole life but had been drinking that November day.
Price told the Judge, “He was not in his right mind. He has a drinking problem.”
According to what she told the judge, Owens, an auto mechanic, panicked after realizing what had happened and left the dog on the road.
Verdin responded, “About the best defense you can put up about what you did on that day was that you were driving drunk. It’s just horrible.”
Somewhere Andra is wagging her tail in approval of the verdict.
http://www.alan.com/2014/07/17/south-carolina-jerk-gets-10-years-for-dragging-dog-behind-his-truck-for-two-miles/
OP NOTE: Had I been the judge, I know of one knuckle dragging asshole in SC that would;d be in for a 2 mile dragging, that miserable sonofabitch. 
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