WINTER HARBOR, Maine (AP) - One of two Maine men charged with killing a pug named Franky that belonged to their employer was ordered to serve a year in jail.
Justin Chipman, who was convicted in the August 2018 shooting of the dog, was sentenced to three years in prison but the judge suspended most of the sentence on Wednesday, the Bangor Daily News reported.
Chipman, 24, of Steuben, and another man, Nathan Burke, were accused of taking Franky from Phil Torrey’s home while he was out of town, and then killing the dog while on a joyride in Torrey’s sport utility vehicle. The dog’s body later washed ashore in Winter Harbor.
Burke, 38, of Hancock, is awaiting trial. Like Chipman, he requested a bench trial in which a judge, rather than a jury, will hear testimony.
Both men had worked on Torrey’s lobster boat and had visited Torrey’s house in Winter Harbor many times before Franky vanished.
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