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Palmdale man sentenced in animal cruelty case

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Andres Garcia had to be restrained and taken into custody on a stretcher. (LUIS MEZA)

LANCASTER – A Palmdale man who kicked two of his family’s dogs, one of which had to be euthanized as a result of its injuries, was sentenced Wednesday to 30 days of community labor, 48 animal cruelty counseling sessions and five years of felony probation.

Andres Garcia — who received credit for 489 days he has already spent behind bars — was also barred from owning any animal for 10 years.

Garcia — who pleaded no contest to a felony count of animal cruelty — kicked and chased the family’s Chihuahuas in his backyard on Aug. 31, 2015, causing serious injuries to both pets, according to Deputy District Attorney Amarilla Blondia.

One of the dogs, Guero, had to be euthanized due to the severity of its injuries, the prosecutor said.

The Chihuahuas appeared to be traumatized when they were removed from the home after the attack. One had to be euthanized due to the severity of its injuries. [LUIS MEZA]
Garcia’s family called the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department after they were unable to stop the attack, and Garcia swung one of the dogs at a responding deputy, according to Blondia.

Previous related stories:

Palmdale man pleads to abusing dog, killing another

Palmdale man charged with cruelty to family dogs

Palmdale man accused of animal cruelty

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Filed Under: Crime/ Safety

9 comments for "Palmdale man sentenced in animal cruelty case"

  1. I will not and may not ever understand how someone can hurt any living creature, human, pet, etc. I don’t get it.. These type of people of issues beyond repairable and should not be exposed to society, ever!! I am so sick of hearing and reading about pedophiles, murderers, abusers, etc….Why!? These type of people must have never gotten any kind of affection or attention or lack social skills and/ or common sense….RIP to all victims of these sort of crimes!!! Justice will be served one day and these people have reserved seats with the devil…as I am sure those seats will be beyond warm and ready for them when they arrive…

  2. The thing that complicates this case is that we operate by the rule of law but we have a sense of good and evil.

    The law does not, and probably should not, equate a pet with a person. If it did there would be all sorts of consequences that we aren’t ready to deal with. So we can’t LEGALLY treat this guy like a murderer.

    But I think just about everyone responds about the same way to someone needlessly killing a creature that is helpless to defend itself whether that creature is a baby or a puppy. We recognize the killer as EVIL, and it illustrates a weakness in the rule of law.

  3. To be fair, the dogs didn’t belong to him, they belonged to his family!!! So what the heck good does it do to bar HIM from owning an animal?! As far as euthanizing him, that’s much too painless. Bottom line is: he spent a scant year and 4months in jail for what i consider almost as bad as a similar crime involving a baby. (Not referring to any specific crime, past or present) The probation period is the same as what you get with a ticket. Hopefully the counseling sessions are as painful as they sound. I just hope that wherever he finds to squat that they don’t have any dogs or cats or small children.