A Georgia man has been given a nearly 500-year sentence in prison over two years since his arrest on charges of raising and training over 100 pit bulls for an illegal dog fight, according to USA Today.
Vincent Lemark Burrell, 57, was sentenced Thursday to 475 years in prison after being convicted of 93 felony counts of dog fighting and 10 misdemeanour counts of animal cruelty in Paulding County, Georgia, a suburb about 35 miles northwest of Atlanta. The details of the case came to light in court documents obtained by USA Today.
Each dog fighting charge added five years to his sentence, and each animal cruelty charge added a year, thereby leading to this extraordinary sentence.
This is said to be the longest prison term ever given to a person due to dog fighting. If Burrell were only convicted on the dog fighting charges, the total would be 465 years.
Jessica K Rock is the state's animal crimes resource prosecutor.
"Let this be a clear message that Paulding County will not accept or condone the inhumane treatment of animals-especially the violence and abuse associated with dog fighting," the lead prosecutor on the case, KC Pagnotta, said in a statement. "It is time as a society that we step up and stop the abuse and mistreatment of innocent animals."
David Heath, Burrell's attorney, filed a motion for a new trial because the verdict "is contrary to evidence and without evidence to support it" and "decidedly and strongly against the weight of the evidence."
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