A former Baltimore police officer who admitted to beating his ex-girlfriend's puppy to death because he was tired of cleaning up after it was sentenced Wednesday to a year in jail.
Alec Eugene Taylor, who spent five years as a Baltimore police officer, was sentenced in Montgomery County to more jail time than prosecutors had expected for a crime the judge called "absolutely disgusting."
Taylor, of Silver Spring, has admitted to beating, choking and killing his ex-girlfriend's seven-month-old Jack Russell terrier Rocko in their apartment Feb. 26. Afterward he texted her a photo of the dog's body, authorities said.
Taylor told his ex-girlfriend, Deborah Avila, over the phone that he had beaten the puppy with a mop because he was tired of cleaning up the puppy's waste, police say. He threw Rocko's body in the trash, but his Avila asked him to retrieve the body so she could bury him, authorities said.
"Rocko was not just a dog," Avila told the court Wednesday at Taylor's sentencing. "He was a member of my family."
Taylor's parents say that Avila reported their son to police because he had broken up with her, and claimed that Avila had beaten the dog. However, Taylor's defense attorney, Warren Brown, said he did not have a defense that Avila may have injured the dog.
"It would not have been a defense to his killing the dog," Brown said.
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Brown said his client had no history of brutality or mistreatment or violation of the law.
"I think we all have unfortunately a little dark side in us, and sometimes it comes out," Brown said. "And I think for a variety of reasons, it showed itself at the moment that he inflicted the injuries to the dog that led to the dog's death."
Taylor pleaded guilty in August to a charge of aggravated animal cruelty. He had faced up to three years in jail and a $5,000 fine, although sentencing guidelines for the charge call for a three-month sentence.
But in court Wednesday, Judge Richard Jordan called the crime "absolutely disgusting" and sentenced Taylor to a year, longer than prosecutors had expected.
Montgomery County State's Attorney John McCarthy said "we should advocate for tougher sentences for those people who brutalize pets and animals, as is what happened in this particular case to Rocko."
Taylor will serve his sentence in the Montgomery County Detention Center.
His parents called his sentence excessive.
