A Georgia man who the authorities mentioned saved greater than 100 canine in merciless circumstances at his residence has been sentenced to 475 years in jail after being discovered responsible final month of dogfighting and cruelty to animals, prosecutors mentioned.
The person, Vincent Lemark Burrell, 57, of Dallas, Ga., was discovered responsible by a jury on Jan. 30 of 93 counts of dogfighting and 10 counts of cruelty to animals.
The decision got here after a four-day trial wherein the authorities mentioned that they had discovered 107 canine, lots of them underweight, scarred and lacking tooth, chained up in his yard in 2022, the Paulding County District Lawyer’s Workplace mentioned in an announcement.
Decide Dean C. Bucci of the Paulding County Superior Courtroom gave Mr. Burrell the utmost potential sentence.
The authorities had been performing on a search warrant issued after an Amazon driver raised issues in regards to the welfare of the canine, which the driving force mentioned he noticed chained within the yard, in keeping with the assertion.
Officers despatched to Mr. Burrell’s home in Dallas, which is about 32 miles outdoors of Atlanta, discovered the canine, most of them pit bulls, with out entry to meals or water, the Paulding County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned on the time.
The canine, a few of which had been emaciated, had been tied with heavy chains to timber and left with little to no shelter. Others had been boarded within the basement of Mr. Burrell’s home, the place the odor of urine and feces was so robust that officers needed to put on protecting tools to enter, the Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned.
Additionally they found “quite a few gadgets related to dogfighting,” together with a hen used to entice the canine, a stick with pry open their jaws, a package used to deal with them after fights and “paperwork linking Burrell’s canine to different identified canine fighters,” in keeping with the assertion by the district legal professional’s workplace.
Additional medical examination of the canine revealed that that they had rashes from their collars and scars according to dogfighting, in keeping with the assertion. The canine had been taken into county custody, after which transferred to a rescue group, the assertion mentioned.
Mr. Burrell was arrested and charged the day officers searched his residence.
A lawyer for Mr. Burrell couldn’t be instantly reached for touch upon Sunday. The district legal professional’s workplace additionally couldn’t be instantly reached on Sunday for additional info relating to the case.
Chief Trevor Hess of the Paulding County Marshal Bureau mentioned he appreciated how critically the case had been taken.
“The common individual doesn’t notice how prevalent dogfighting nonetheless is,” he mentioned within the assertion from the district legal professional’s workplace.
Dogfighting is a felony in all 50 states, but it surely stays prevalent throughout the nation, in keeping with the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.
Canine are bred particularly for fights, which normally final an hour or two, and finish when one of many animals turns into incapacitated. In accordance with the Humane Society of america, canine concerned in fights typically die from blood loss, shock, dehydration, exhaustion or an infection.
