Judge calls behavior “meanness”

 

Ironton Municipal Court Judge O. Clark Collins has given the maximum sentence allowed to two men accused of killing two chained pets.

Brian L. Sharp, 20, of 339 Township Road 324, and Johnathan D. Jiles, 20, of 27 Private Drive 380, both of Pedro, stood together and pleaded guilty to their crimes Thursday in municipal court.

Each man was sentenced to six months in the Lawrence County Jail for the first-degree misdemeanor prohibition concerning companion animals and 30 days in jail for criminal trespassing, a fourth-degree misdemeanor. Collins ordered the sentences be served consecutively, meaning each man will spend the next seven months in jail.

Each man was fined $1,000 and ordered, jointly and severally, to pay restitution to the dogs’ owners, Michael and Josie Scythes. Collins ordered both men to stay away from the victims and issued an order that neither man ever own a companion animal.

Late last month the Scythes came home to find someone had brutally stabbed and slit the throats of their dogs, who were confined in their yard.