BENNINGTON — A woman found guilty of shooting her pet dog after it attacked her one Christmas afternoon has been sentenced to 18 months of probation.
The defendant, Joyce Cornell of Sandgate, is serving an 18-month deferred sentence for the felony offense of aggravated cruelty to animals by torture.
The offense carries a maximum prison sentence of five years. But during Cornell’s sentencing on Wednesday, Superior Court Judge Cortland Corsones said there were “significant mitigating circumstances” that preceded the shooting on Dec. 26, 2019.
He said the Great Dane, named Atticus, had bitten Cornell in the ankle the previous afternoon, leading her to lock herself in the bathroom for about 15 hours. Once the animal calmed down, she let it out into the yard, attached to a run line, until she heard the dog pacing to get back inside from the cold.
During her trial by a judge in June, Cornell, 48, said she shot her pet out of fear after the dog bared its teeth and snarled at her when she reopened the front door. Cornell said she shot it again from the bathroom window about an hour later to put the animal out of its misery.
Corsones convicted Cornell, finding that she had intentionally and maliciously shot the dog. The judge said he found “evil intent” in Cornell’s actions and a lack of compassion because she wasn’t in danger both times she shot the Great Dane.
The state had argued against Cornell’s request for deferment, instead asking for one to three years of probation. The prosecution also asked for six months of furlough on a related misdemeanor charge.
But at her sentencing, the judge said Cornell, who immigrated to the U.S. from Malaysia about a year before the incident, was not familiar with local customs and the “integrity of law enforcement.”
Her attorney, Rick Burgoon, asserted that back in Cornell’s home country, people would handle a vicious pet problem on their own and wouldn’t ask the police for help.
“She articulated at trial when she testified, as well as in her (presentence investigation) that law enforcement — and this is not uncommon outside of our country — is corrupt,” Burgoon said, “and rarely do citizens contact the police except in extreme emergencies.”
A Vermont state trooper euthanized Atticus with three gunshots roughly six hours after the dog had first been shot. This was done upon the suggestion of the animal shelter in Arlington, where the Great Dane had been adopted.
In listing the factors in favor of a lighter sentence, Judge Corsones also said Cornell has no criminal record and has done well on probation since she was charged 2½ years ago. Additionally, he said, she has taken responsibility for shooting the dog and expressed remorse.
“I’m truly sorry for what I did,” Cornell said shortly before she was sentenced. “I know I wasn’t thinking straight. … I will do whatever you ask, that the court asks me, to put this behind me.”
While on probation, Cornell won’t be allowed to be the primary caretaker of an animal, the court ordered.
Cornell had also pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of providing false information to a law enforcement officer who investigated the shooting.
She admitted to lying to state troopers when asked if anyone else was inside her home. She’d said no even though she knew her husband, Scott Cornell, had been inside the residence. He’d slept through the dog shooting after having too much to drink on Christmas Day.
When troopers entered the home, they found him — as well as 23 firearms, including rifles and shotguns. He wasn’t allowed to own firearms because he had a felony conviction for a violent crime.
In April 2021, Scott Cornell pleaded guilty to 10 misdemeanor counts of prohibited possession of a firearm in a plea deal. Corsones sentenced him to one to three years in jail, all suspended, and placed him on probation for 18 months.
Under her deferred sentence, Joyce Cornell’s convictions will be expunged from the record once she has successfully completed probation, her attorney said.
