A sentencing hearing concerning an animal cruelty trial spanning some two years culminated in a guilty plea in Carroll County District Court on July 16.
Christopher Donithan’s guilty plea was accepted by the Honorable Judge Brett Geisler. According to Carroll County Commonwealth Attorney Roger Brooks, Donithan was sentenced to 12 months in jail on the misdemeanor charge.
He received six months suspended for time served and Donithan is barred from ownership of an animal. He was instructed to report to the New River Valley Regional Jail on August 2 to begin serving his sentence.
More than 16 people clad in “Animals Feel Pain Too. Stand With Chance. Stop Animal Cruelty. Speak Up For Those Who Can’t Speak for Themselves” red shirts affiliated with the Twin County Humane Society and the “Justice For Chance” group were in attendance for the proceeding. Jennifer Roberts, Spokesperson for Justice For Chance, shared a statement following the sentencing hearing.
“I feel wonderful with the sentencing received in court today. We all wanted Christopher to spend time in jail and to lose the right to have animals in the future. This is the first case in this area where an animal abuse case has ended with a jail sentence that I am aware of. Although I feel that more jail time and mandated counseling could have been added, as well as charging the other adults in the home with this horrendous treatment of a living being, I am proud of our judicial system, and feel that this will set a precedent for any case that enters our local courts in the future. Chance’s legacy will long serve the animals here, and will forever live in the hearts of all that had the honor to meet him and fight for his justice,” wrote Roberts.
The Justice for Chance group was created to bring awareness to an animal cruelty case involving a pit-bull mix breed dog named Chance. On December 26, 2022, Twin County Humane Society members went into Donithan’s home in Hillsville to get the dog which had been surrendered into their care. According to the group’s website, the severity of his condition was the worst that most of the group has ever seen. The dog, which was eight years old at the time, was later accepted by the Albany, New York group “Out of the Pits” and has since been adopted and in good condition with a new owner.
In late December of 2022, Carroll County Animal Control Officer Terry Woods, (who has since retired) was contacted by the Twin County Humane Society after the pit bull, Chance, was signed over to them by Donithan. Woods said the pit bull weighed 26 pounds after it was taken into custody, estimating the dog was more than 20-pounds underweight. Other sources told The Carroll News Chance was being held in a cage 24/7 and was within days of death from starvation and dehydration, and had bed sores from laying too long. It was also noted it took two days after being rescued for the dog to be able to walk again from laying so long in the cage.
“I did place charges for animal cruelty. There were three other smaller dogs at the the residence that were fine, in good shape with no problems whatsoever,” Woods told The Carroll News at the time. “For the pit bull, he gave me no excuse other than he was treating it for worms and it was eating its own poop.”
Woods said the dog was tested, however, after being taken into custody, and had no parasites. Woods said the actual condition the dog was found in ranks with some of the worst he’d seen, adding there was no excuse for it to be found in that condition. The dog was taken from a residence at 515 South Main Street in Hillsville, where Donithan at that time was charged with one count of animal cruelty.
David Broyles may be reached at 276-779-4013 or on “X” at CarrollNewsDave
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