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6 Months Jail For Peninsula Man In Dog Killing

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Sep 22, 2009 11:27 am US/Pacific

6 Months Jail For Peninsula Man In Dog Killing

CBS 5 CrimeWatch

REDWOOD CITY (BCN) ―

Click to enlarge 1 of 1: CBS News

A 27-year-old man was sentenced Tuesday morning to six months in San Mateo County jail after pleading no contest to an animal cruelty charge for killing his girlfriend's dog in 2008.

Ryan Reeser, who has one day of credit for time served, must surrender for the remainder of his sentence by Nov. 14, nearly a year after he beat the 6-year-old miniature pinscher "Godiva" to death on Nov. 20, 2008, according to the San Mateo County District Attorney's Office.

He pleaded no contest to one count of felony animal cruelty, which carried a maximum sentence of three years in prison, Assistant District Attorney Karen Guidotti said. Judge James Ellis instead sentenced him to six months in jail.

Prosecutors contended that Reeser punched Godiva's head and body, dislodged the dog's eye from its socket, and then placed the animal in a plastic storage container before leaving it to die a block from his home.

Reeser allegedly told his girlfriend that Godiva had gotten out and was nowhere to be found.

His girlfriend's father found Godiva's body the next day, and Peninsula Humane Society investigators allegedly found blood in Reeser's house leading to the laundry area, Chief Deputy District Attorney Steve Wagstaffe said.

The necropsy showed the dog suffered bruising in 13 places and died of blood loss and other injuries related to the beating. The district attorney's office initially charged Reeser with two felony counts of animal cruelty and a misdemeanor count of destroying or hiding evidence.