FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (AP) - Three men who participated in the slaughter of two goats in Virginia last year have been sentenced to at least three years in prison, according to a prosecutor.
Andrew J. Haefele, 37, Donald Ray Compton Jr., 35, and Charles E. McKinney, 35, all received three years on Tuesday to serve in connection with a June 18 incident captured on videotape. Authorities said the goats were battered with a medieval weapon known as a spiked mace, attacked by dogs and had their throats slit, The Free Lance-Star of Fredericksburg reported.
Compton received another three years for convictions of possessing a gun as a felon and violating his probation, giving him a total of six years to serve.
The owner of the goats, Halie E. Morgan, 22, was previously convicted of two misdemeanors and sentenced to 24 months in jail. Because her convictions are misdemeanors, she will only have to serve half of that time.
According to investigators, a neighbor called police and reported that people at a home in Spotsylvania County were using various objects to torture the goats and ordering dogs to attack them. Police later recovered a video narrated by Compton that showed the defendants taking obvious pleasure in the goats’ suffering.
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