42-year-old Jason Johnson of Independence, IA, was found guilty of Animal Torture after severely beating his dog.
In May 2019, his family's dog chewed up a pair of sunglasses. Johnson held down the dog and repeatedly beat her with a his fists and with a belt. He instructed his son to record a portion of the beating and to distribute the video to his other children so that they would see what happens when the forget to put the dog in a kennel when they aren't at home.
His son reportedly shared the video with the police within a few days of the beating. He assaulted his son for doing this, which led to him being charged with Assault Causing Bodily Injury.
Johnson was convicted by a jury of Animal Torture this past Thursday. He will be sentenced at a later date. He faces up two years in prison and a fine as high as $6,250. He will also need to undergo a psychological evaluation.
Following his conviction, Johnson was charged with Violation of a No-Contact Order for making a comment to his son while still in court.
According to this news report, the dog removed from Johnson's custody by the Independence Police Department when they arrested him.
Updated on 11/06/19: Jason Johnson of Independence was essentially sentenced yesterday to one week in jail for beating his dog up while his son video recorded the assault.Johnson was actually sentenced to 30 days in jail, but will only need to serve seven days if he meets the other conditions of his sentence. He needs to complete one year of probation, undergo a psychological evaluation and treatment, and sixteen hours of community service. Unlike this person, I don't believe that there are any stipulations that would bar Johnson from owning any dogs over the course of his probation.
Johnson was extremely lucky when you compare the maximum sentence that he faced versus his actual sentence.