A Georgia man has been sentenced to four years in prison for setting his brother's dog on fire while the pet was trapped inside a dog house in suburban Atlanta.
A Cobb County jury convicted Caleb Lanier, 23, of felony animal cruelty and another charge for intentionally burning his brother's female pit bull named Royalti. He was sentenced yesterday, prosecutors said in a statement.
Lanier used a torch to attack the dog and set it on fire in May 2015, prosecutors said.
"Lanier repeatedly touched the open flame of a torch to a dog's body while the dog was trapped inside a doghouse located in the backyard of Lanier's home," Cobb County District Attorney Vic Reynolds said in a statement.
"Lanier stuck the torch through a crack at the top of the doghouse, and the dog suffered burns on her face and over 60 percent of her body before managing to escape the doghouse," Reynolds added in the statement.
Veterinarian Regan Burford, who first treated the animal, testified in court about the abuse and torture the dog endured.
Burford eventually adopted the dog and nursed it to recovery.
"This is one of the worst cases of torture and suffering of an innocent animal our animal-abuse unit has seen," Cobb County Assistant District Attorney Sherwin Figueroa said in a statement.
Prosecutors had wanted Lanier jailed for eight years, but the judge cut that in half, sending him to prison for four years.
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