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Man gets 10 years in prison in mauling
23-year-old goaded his pit bulls to attack, kill 3rd dog, witness says
Sep 2, 2004, DALLAS, Texas --
A Dallas man who unleashed two pit bull terriers on a neighbor's dog and watched the mauling from a lawn chair received the maximum possible punishment in his animal-cruelty trial Wednesday -- 10 years in prison and a $14,000 fine.
A witness to the September 2003 dog attack on Castlerock Drive in Pleasant Grove described seeing 23-year-old Carey D. McMillian goad his dogs to attack and ultimately kill the hound-Dalmatian mix named Cisco.
When the panting and exhausted pit bills let up, the neighbor said Mr. McMillian would grab the stricken animal and shake it to provoke the pit bulls to "tear the dog apart."
The unemployed high school dropout watched from a lawn chair and later dragged the dying animal by a hind leg and left it, still breathing, in an alley behind his house, according to court testimony.
A neighbor surreptitiously videotaped a portion of the attack. Jurors watched the tape three times before deliberating for 30 minutes and returning a guilty verdict.
The charge of animal cruelty carries a maximum punishment of two years in a state jail, but the offense was enhanced to a third-degree felony after prosecutors proved that state law could define the two dogs as "deadly weapons." Jurors also found Mr. McMillian guilty of a lesser misdemeanor charge of dog fighting.
"The only reason for killing Cisco was for his own perverse pleasure," lead prosecutor Rick Jackson said in closing arguments. "This case cries out for the max."
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