Man sentenced to prison for tearing head off kitten

Man sentenced to prison for tearing head off kitten | Chicago Tribune:

EDWARDSVILLE, Ill. -- A Metro East man was ordered to spend two years in prison after admitting in court that he tore the head off a kitten in the wake of a fight with his live-in girlfriend.

When it comes to animal abuse cases, "we don't get prison sentences all the time, so it's always good when we do," Stephanee Smith, a spokeswoman for the Madison County State's Attorney's Office, said Tuesday of the case against Jacob Thornton.

Thornton, 21, of Bethalto, was to have had a preliminary hearing last Thursday on the felony animal torture charge but instead pleaded guilty, Smith said.

A judge ordered Thornton's sentence to run concurrently to a prison term related to a parole violation.

Authorities say that after a July 28 dispute between Thornton and his 30-year-old live-in girlfriend, the woman left the home before returning to find her kitten's head and detached body in the front yard.

At the time, Thornton was out on parole on a 2005 aggravated battery conviction.

Four days after he was charged with animal torture, he also was charged with burglarizing a motor vehicle. That case is pending.

Thornton's criminal background, dating to 2002, includes convictions of burglary, attempted robbery, retail theft, probation violations, theft, resisting arrest, criminal trespass to a vehicle and domestic battery.

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