It was a case that grabbed national attention for its sickening depths of depravity.
A couple from Kentucky forced their canine pet to partake in a sexual act with them, appalling true dog lovers the world over.
The man and woman, who pleaded guilty to the charges against them last November, had faced up to five years in prison under a then-new Kentucky animal cruelty law.
Nolene Renee Horn, 44, of Bracken County and Christopher S. Jones, 50, of Mason County were indicted by a Mason County grand jury in June 2020 on two counts of sexual crimes against an animal, a Class D felony, and two counts of torture of a dog, a Class A misdemeanor.
The couple were sentenced Monday in Mason County Circuit Court, according to a report in the Maysville News.
Circuit Judge Stockton Wood sentenced each defendant to two years in prison. Those sentences were probated for five years, according to information from the office of Daniel Cameron, Kentucky’s attorney general.
(My Life)
Evidence presented by the Office of Special Prosecutions led to what Cameron said is believed to be Kentucky’s first charge of bestiality since the passage of a 2019 law making sexual crimes against an animal a Class D felony.
Senate Bill 67, was unanimously passed by the General Assembly in 2019 and made sexual crimes against an animal a Class D felony. The new law took effect on June 27, 2019.
Horn and Jones were accused of having sexual contact with a dog on November 3, 2019, according to court documents cited by the Kentucky Herald Leader.
The incident took place in Mason County, which is located in the northeastern part of the state along the border with Ohio.
“This type of heinous and obscene crime cannot go unpunished,” Cameron said when the couple was indicted. “I am grateful for the Maysville Police Department’s diligent investigation of this case, and our Office of Special Prosecutions is pleased to assist Mason County by prosecuting the case on behalf of the commonwealth.”