he dragged a dog by a chain attached to his truck on Main Avenue in Durango<\/a>. The dog, a black and white pit bull mix named Sargent, was found dead with injuries to its paws and face.<\/p>\nBegay pleaded guilty to DUI and cruelty to animals, which is a misdemeanor punishable by six to 18 months in jail, a fine of $500 to $5,000 and up to five years\u2019 probation.<\/p>\n
District Court Judge William Herringer sentenced Begay to two years\u2019 probation and 120 days jail, time incarcerated that he served before his sentence was imposed. The judge called the sentence \u201clenient\u201d and said, \u201cSome people will think you should be locked up, and throw away the key.\u201d<\/p>\n
But Begay showed \u201cgenuine remorse\u201d for the loss of his dog, Herringer said \u2013 and he\u2019s done well in La Plata County Jail, where he had the privilege of working as a jail trustee. La Plata County Sheriff\u2019s Office prepared to release Begay from custody Friday.<\/p>\n
\u201cAll I can ask is forgiveness from the city of Durango and the state of Colorado,\u201d Begay said to the judge, his voice choked with emotion. \u201cI know a million sorrys won\u2019t change anything, but I am hurting deep down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Begay\u2019s mother, Maggie Blie-James, said her son loved Sargent, a dog that was a gift from his stepdaughter.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was not supposed to happen, but it did,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
Prosecutor Zach Rogers called the crime \u201ca disturbing episode\u201d but said Begay \u201cdoes accept responsibility and shows remorse.\u201d<\/p>\n
Public defender Jonathan Jourdane said his client wants to get help and treatment for issues related to his alcohol use. Begay sees his arrest, incarceration and sentence to probation \u201cas a turning point for himself so he can be there for his family.<\/p>\n
\u201cMr. Begay will live with this. We\u2019re asking for mercy, even if the community doesn\u2019t think he deserves it,\u201d Jourdane said. \u201cHe\u2019s a human, and he made a mistake.\u201d<\/p>\n
bhauff@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"41-year-old admits to dragging dog behind truck while intoxicated<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":74856,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[168,480,28,2822],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-74855","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-crime","tag-dui","tag-headlines","tag-justice-and-rights"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74855","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74855"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74855\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74856"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74855"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74855"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74855"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=74855"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}