Woman who starved her Boxer to death sentenced to 90 days in jail, but her lawyer is fighting it saying she'll lose her job (boo hoo)

OHIO -- A Garfield Heights woman was sentenced July 3 to 90 days in jail for cruelty to animals in the starvation death of a boxer known as Little Girl.

Navada Williams, 43, was also given five years of probation and barred from having pets during that time.

Williams was charged in March, after a family member called Garfield Heights Animal Control and said the boxer was a stray that needed to be picked up.

The dog, less than 5 years old, still had stitches from recent surgery to remove an injured eye.

Publicity about the case was seen by the veterinary clinic that performed the eye surgery, and animal control officers learned that Williams was the person who had taken the dog to the clinic.

"We determined that the dog was not a stray. Williams had owned it for some time," said Ed Jamison, the former Garfield Heights animal control officer who was recently hired to head the Cleveland Kennel.

"While she was at the clinic for the eye injury, another dog owner overheard her telling the staff she couldn't afford the surgery, so he paid for it," Jamison said. "The good Samaritan and the clinic both offered to take the dog off her hands, but Williams rejected the offers."

The Boxer, which should have weighed 50 or 60 pounds, weighed just 18 pounds when Jamison took her from Williams' home, he said.

Despite [round-the-clock] medical care at the local Family Pet Clinic, Little Girl died of starvation within two weeks, Jamison said.

At sentencing, Garfield Heights Municipal Judge Deborah Nicastro told Williams "the cruelty case was the worst she had seen," Jamison said.

The 90-day jail sentence is the stiffest animal cruelty penalty ever given in the Garfield Heights court, and it's rare in other Ohio courts, he said.

"The sentence sends a message that animal cruelty is serious and pet ownership is a responsibility," Jamison said. "Pets are expensive to care for properly and people need to consider that before becoming pet owners."

RIP Little Girl

The 90-day sentence is now in question, as Williams' attorney filed a motion this week to reduce the jail time on the grounds that "Williams will lose her job if she is in jail for 90 days," Jamison said.

The mitigation hearing has not yet been scheduled.

(Cleveland.com - July 10, 2014)

Earlier:

• Rescued emaciated dog dies