A Pittsylvania County circuit court judge sentenced a Sutherlin man Monday to 18 months in prison for shooting and killing his neighbor’s dog on April 24.
Danny Wayne Mitchell Sr., 58, pleaded guilty Sept. 21 to shooting at an occupied dwelling, malicious wounding of an animal, reckless use of a firearm and property damage. He pleaded no contest to shooting from a motor vehicle.
Judge Charles J. Strauss suspended eight years and six months of the 10-year sentence.
“Mr. Mitchell, this could have been a lot worse,” Strauss said. “If you’re having a problem with your neighbor, you don’t go shoot it out.”
He added that alcohol contributed to the shooting and that Mitchell has an alcohol problem.
The judge wrestled with the length of the sentence because of the defendant’s health problems. Mitchell had a stroke in 2008.
The sentencing guidelines called for as much as six months in prison.
“I’m not sure that I should give you the time you deserve,” he said. “But I do not want you to give these folks any more problems.”
Les Adams, an assistant commonwealth’s attorney for Pittsylvania County, asked the judge for more prison time than the sentencing guidelines called for.
He said the situation could have been much worse and that Mitchell has a problem with alcohol. Deputies found Mitchell extremely drunk after the shooting in April.
Mitchell’s attorney, Edward Cooley, asked the judge for leniency during the hearing.
“It’s a very unusual occurrence in his life,” Cooley said to the judge. “For the most part, he had been a law-abiding citizen.”
He added that an extended stay in jail would be bad for Mitchell’s health. In addition to health problems from the stroke, Mitchell takes antidepressants and has two hearing aids, high cholesterol and a hernia.
Cooley told the judge that he had no good excuse for Mitchell’s behavior.
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