SOUTHLAND : Fired Mailman Who Killed Dog Sentenced to Six Months in Jail
A fired postal carrier was sentenced today to six months in jail and three years’ probation for shooting a dog to death while delivering mail on his Arleta route last December.
San Fernando Superior Court Judge Meredith C. Taylor handed down the sentence despite a plea by Floyd Bertran Sterling, 34, of Pacoima not to be sent to jail.
“I do care about animals,” Sterling told the judge. “I do care about the little boy involved in this incident. I’m sorry about that. But jail time wouldn’t do my family any good, and it wouldn’t bring the dog back.”
Taylor, however, said Sterling should be sent to jail because of two previous convictions that “involved a degree of violence”--one for misdemeanor spousal abuse and the other for carrying a loaded revolver in his car.
Sterling shot Skippy, a mixed-breed German shepherd, as he walked up to its owner’s house the day after Christmas. The shooting was witnessed by the dog owner’s 10-year-old son.
The mail carrier told police after the shooting that the dog had tried to bite him on several occasions, but Tammie Brody, the dog’s owner, said Skippy was friendly.
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