BATTLE CREEK (WKZO-AM) — A Battle Creek man with an extensive criminal history of assault and domestic violence is being sent back to prison this time for savagely beating a dog with a baseball bat and then shooting it with an airsoft pistol back in February.
The dog was so badly injured that the responding officer had to put the animal down.
David Hursley, 55, has been sentenced in Calhoun County Circuit Court to 46 months to 15-years in prison.
Hursley told police that the husky mix that he was watching for a friend bit a visitor in the hand and he was just protecting that friend. But the prosecution argued that his response far outweighed what the dog did and just isn’t acceptable behavior.
Hursley was convicted last month of felony animal torture and a misdemeanor cruelty charge.
The Judge says he took into consideration the fact that Hursley has eight felony convictions and 20 misdemeanors on his record before determining the length of his sentence.
