DECATUR, Ill. (WCIA) — A Decatur man has been sentenced to a year and a half in prison after pleading guilty to leaving dogs outside in extremely cold temperatures, leading to the euthanasia of one of them.

Mark Miller Jr. was sentenced the following Thursday a plea deal he struck with prosecutors in September. He pleaded guilty to a Class 4 felony count of aggravated animal cruelty, while several misdemeanor charges against him were dismissed.

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In pleading guilty, Miller admitted to leaving dogs outside his property in December 2022 when the temperature was 1° Fahrenheit and the wind chill dropped to -16°. A concerned citizen reported the situation to the Macon County Sheriff’s Officewhose deputies went to the home and confirmed the horrific story they were told.

Sergeant Scott Flannery said the dogs’ plywood kennels were ineffective shelters against the brutal cold and four of them were in “dire condition”. A fifth dog — an 11-year-old bulldog named Blue — was nearly dead; In the end, the vets could do nothing to save him and Blue was put down.

Aggravating factors in the case led to felony charges for Miller in what is normally a misdemeanor case. A Class 4 felony results in a sentence of one to three years for anyone convicted of one.

Miller will be required to serve half of his sentence with no credit for time already served in custody. He will have to serve six months on probation after his release from prison.

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