4-Year Sentence for Setting Dog on Fire in Smyrna

MARIETTA, GA — A Smyrna man will spend four years in jail for setting a pit bull on fire while the dog was trapped inside a doghouse.

Calib Dansel Lanier, 23, was sentenced on Thursday after being convicted last month of two counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and one count of criminal damage to property in the second degree.

Cobb Superior Court Judge Robert E. Flournoy III sentenced Lanier to 10 years, with four years to serve in custody and the balance on probation.

In the late afternoon of May 12, 2015, Lanier repeatedly touched the open flame of a torch to a dog’s body while the dog was trapped inside a doghouse located in the back yard of Lanier’s home on Laurel Circle.

See also: Man Who Set Pit Bull On Fire To Be Sentenced Thursday

Lanier stuck the torch through a crack at the top of the doghouse, and the dog suffered burns on her face and over 60 percent of her body before managing to escape the doghouse. “Royalti,” a year-and-a-half old female pit bull, belonged to Lanier’s brother and sister-in-law.

Lanier was the only person home at the time of the fire. He had been in a simmering dispute with his brother prior to the attack on the dog. “Royalti” has since been adopted by her veterinarian and is now known as “Sweet Potato Fry.”

“This is one of the worst cases of torture and suffering of an innocent animal our animal-abuse unit has seen,” ADA Sherwin Figueroa said. “This Defendant has lashed out against his own family in addition to committing this deviant act. Then, when confronted by the evidence, he changed his story.”

Studies have shown that people who abuse animals often go on to harm domestic partners, children and the elderly, and Figueroa sought a 15-year sentence, with eight years in prison, in this case.

Image: Cobb County DA