The torture – later posted on Pennell's Facebook page -- left the dog with a torn-up, bleeding face and the raccoon dead or maimed.
Muskegon County 14th Circuit Judge Timothy G. Hicks on Tuesday, Jan. 22, ordered Pennell to serve one year in jail and 2 ½ years on probation. Pennell earlier pleaded guilty as charged to the animal killing/torture felony.
The incident began with Pennell shaking the raccoon loose from the top of a tall sapling to which the animal clung, while Pennell called his dog to attack it.
It ended with Pennell stomping on the shrieking raccoon's head.
All of it was caught on video with sound, the camera held by another unidentified man.
A tip about the video on Pennell's Facebook page led Greg Patten, a conservation officer for the Michigan Department of Natural Resources, to launch an investigation and arrest Pennell.
According to court files, the alleged animal cruelty happened May 10, 2012, at a property in the 1500 block of South Maple Island Road near Pennell's home.
Pennell was charged as a second-time habitual offender. According to the Michigan Department of Corrections website, he is on parole after serving a prison sentence for a 2008 conviction of breaking and entering a building with intent, committed Dec. 19, 2007, in Muskegon County.
(Mlive - Jan 23, 2012)
