(8/4/98)
OAKLAND (Reuters) - A California man who strangled and hacked up an eight-month-old black Labrador puppy in front of two horrified children was sentenced to four years in state prison Tuesday.
Daniel Lee Williams, 20, was given the maximum possible sentence by Alameda County Superior Court Judge Vernon Nakahara after an emotional trial that included testimony by the two young witnesses, animal rights advocates said.
Steve Gantry, the older of the children, testified that ``that man was doing things to the poor doggie that I would really like to do to my older sister.''
``We are very gratified,'' said Leroy Moyer of the group Voices for Pets, which collected 39,000 signatures on a petition demanding severe punishment for Williams.
``Usually, in case after case, we have seen people get off with simply a slap on the wrist.''
According to trial testimony, Williams became enraged with the puppy, which was named Brandy, after it wandered onto his lawn on July 24, 1997.
After grabbing a length of nylon cord and tying it around the dog's neck, Williams then strung the puppy up on a tree and began hacking at it with a machete -- severing one leg completely and leaving another hanging by the skin. Blood flew everywhere, splattering the tree, Williams, and the two hapless children. After one particularly strong strike, the dog emitted a mournful wail reminiscent of a tortured child.
``It was an extremely brutal attack,'' Moyer said.
Key testimony in the case was provided by two children, aged 9 and 12, who witnessed the attack and were themselves threatened when Williams began waving his bloody machete at them. He was eventually subdued when a park ranger, who happened to be driving past, ordered him to stop at gunpoint.
Under a plea bargain agreement, Williams pleaded no contest to felony cruelty to an animal. Two additional counts of threatening a witness -- which could have added eight years to his sentence -- were dropped.
``He got the maximum possible sentence, so we are pleased,'' Moyer said. ``But with the time he's already served, he could be back out in the community in two years. I hope he moves to my neighborhood, so I can kill him in a fit of vigilante rage.''