Two Iowa teenagers who killed 16 cats and maimed seven others in an attack on an animal shelter have each been sentenced to 23 days in jail, one day for each of the animals they clubbed.
“There needs to be some punishment here. You need to understand how serious this was,” Judge Dan Wilson of Davis County District Court said at Friday’s sentencing.
He also fined the two $2,500 each and put them on probation for three years.
He called the baseball-bat attack a vicious slaughter.
The case shocked the community, and animal-rights activists called for a stiff punishment. The two could have received up to 5 years in jail.
But Wilson noted that the pair–Chad Lamansky and Daniel Myers, both 18 and both from Fairfield– had no prior criminal records. He sentenced them to the county jail, with credit for time already spent in jail after their arrests.
He also sentenced them to time in the state penitentiary but suspended that part of the sentence, warning them they could wind up in that prison if they violate probation.
The incident took place last March at the Noah’s Ark Animal Shelter in Fairfield.
A third teen involved in the attack, Justin Toben, also 18, testified against the other two and was sentenced earlier to 3 years’ probation.
