Man gets 6 months for beating dog to death

A Port Orange man was sentenced to six months in the county jail and barred from owning pets for life for beating a dog to death.

Brian Lee Batson, 59, pleaded no contest to felony animal cruelty for fatally beating Buddy, a 16-year-old rat terrier and Jack Russell terrier mix. The dog belonged to Batson’s girlfriend at the time.

Batson was arrested on July 30, 2020. Police found blood on his clothing, the dead dog’s body in the backyard and what appeared to be a tooth from the dog on a car hood.

Circuit Judge Raul Zambrano sentenced Batson on Monday to 180 days in the county jail followed by 3.5 years probation. Batson received 63 days credit for time served.

The judge adjudicated Batson guilty, meaning he will be a convicted felon.

Zambrano also barred Batson from owning pets for life.

Felony animal cruelty is punishable by up to five years in prison. But state sentencing guidelines did not call for a prison sentence against Batson. That’s because Batson did not score enough points on the guidelines, which take into account various factors, such as prior criminal records.

Besides this case, Volusia County court records had no other arrests listed for Batson.

Batson entered an open plea, meaning there was no agreement on sentencing length with prosecutors.

The State Attorney’s Office requested a sentence of one year and one day in prison, according to spokesman Bryan Shorstein. Since Batson did not score prison time on the guidelines, the judge would have had to make special findings to send him to prison.

Shorstein stated prosecutors were satisfied with the judge’s sentence.

“He is being punished for what he did to that animal,” Shorstein said. “The court recognizes these are serious cases.”

Assistant Public Defender Stephanie Park said she had asked for probation and no additional jail time.

Debbie Darino, an animal rights activist, said she would have liked to have seen Batson receive at least a year in prison based on the dog’s injuries.

“I think he should have gotten a lot more than that considering he slaughtered this dog,” Darino said.

She praised the State Attorney’s Office work on the case.

Darino said Batson should have received a sentence as long as Travis Archer’s, who was sentenced to one year in jail for beating Ponce the dog to death.

Darino led the push for Ponce’s Law to increase the likelihood that people convicted of animal abuse would be sent to prison.

The law also allowed judges to bar offenders from owning pets for life, as the judge did in Batson’s case.

Said Darino of Buddy: “That dog was beaten as bad as Ponce. It really was.”