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BRANSON NEWS: Two Missouri men who sparked outrage last summer after dragging a kitten behind a vehicle and posting a video of it on social media were sentenced to prison on Friday.
Kyle Williams, 18, of Branson, was sentenced to serve consecutive terms of four years for animal abuse and three years of armed criminal action in the Missouri Department of Corrections.
Jordan Hall, 19, of Arnold, was sentenced to four years in state prison for animal abuse.
The prosecuting attorney said Friday that the defendants in this case received the maximum sentence for the animal abuse charges.
The torture and killing of the cat, which was filmed and posted to a Facebook group, happened last June in Branson.
The video, posted by Williams, showed people laughing as the cat tossed and turned behind the Jeep. Police said Hall was driving the vehicle.
The kitten was not dead after it was dragged, so Williams killed it with a rock, the Branson Tri-Lakes News reported.
Prosecutors said Williams posted the cat’s death on Facebook in an effort to get his audience to buy him pizza.
Both Williams and Hall pleaded guilty earlier this year to the charges in connection to the torture and death of the kitten.
The prosecuting attorney’s office announced the sentencing of Williams and Hall on Friday.
“We are satisfied with the sentences handed down today by the judge for this senseless act of depravity against a helpless kitten,” Taney County Prosecuting Attorney Jeff Merrell said in a statement. “We appreciate the help of good Samaritans in our digital community in reporting this crime as it might have gone unpunished without their assistance.”
Williams was also sentenced in a separate case to a concurrent five-year prison sentence for sharpening a spork into a shank while he was held in the …
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