The charge of cruelty to a companion animal had been a first-first degree misdemeanor for years, with a maximum sentence of 180 days behind bars. Now classified as a felony, the charge carries a sentence of up to 12 months in prison.
MORE: State stiffens its animal cruelty laws
Sears pleaded guilty Tuesday in Butler County Common Pleas Court to a first-degree misdemeanor, and North pleaded guilty to the same charge in December. Sears is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 28 and North on Jan. 31 by Judge Noah Powers.
Butler County Prosecutor Michael Gmoser said the misdemeanor pleas were permitted in these cases because they met the law specification of a misdemeanor.
“For this charge to rise to the level of a felony, there has to be a prior charge of abuse. There was some indication that was the case early on, but the evidence indicated there was not, so the charge is really a misdemeanor,” Gmoser said.
Sears’ attorney David Washington said this was not a case where the dog was beaten or tortured.
“They fed the dog and it threw up all over. They did not have the money to take it to the vet,” Washington said. “(Sears) loved the dog.”
An employee of Minnick's Drive Thru called police after a dog came to the Hamilton drive-thru looking starved. She fed the brown pitbull mix Slim Jims and dog biscuits and gave it some water.
A post on the Butler County Dog Warden’s Facebook page yielded several tips and led Deputy Dog Warden Supervisor Kurt Merbs to North and Sears
According to Merbs, the couple said that each time they fed the dog it “would go throw up and just lay around.”
But they never sought medical treatment for the dog, according to Merbs.
The dog, later named Duke by those who tried to save him, did not survive. After weeks of treatment, he was euthanized, according to the dog warden’s office.
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