A Florida man was sentenced Wednesday to 25 years in prison for killing a police K-9, among other charges, FOX 13 reported.
Circuit Judge Gilbert Feltel Jr. sentenced 19-year-old Jhamel Malik Paskel to 5 years for killing Fang, a policeK-9, and to 20 years for charges including armed carjacking and kidnapping, the report added. He also faces 10 years of probation.
Paskel’s attorney asked the judge for leniency because Paskel was 17 at the time, FOX13 reported. Paskel also apologized, saying he is “a man ready to take responsibility.”
“I would like to offer my apologies and condolences to Officer Herrera for not only the killing of his K-9 partner Fang, but his best friend,” Paskel said last week. “I want to apologize to the victims for scaring them that night. And I owe my mother the biggest apology for letting her down.”
The 19-year-old pleaded guilty to shooting and killing a Jacksonville K9 named Fang after kidnapping two women and leading officers on a high-speed chase. He’d asked the judge for leniency, but was sentenced to 25 years in prison. https://t.co/PRdAqdsd9D
— FOX 13 Tampa Bay (@FOX13News) October 28, 2020
Paskel pleaded guilty in December to charges of armed robbery and kidnapping two women, events that occurred before a high-speed chase, the report added. Matt Herrera, the K-9’s partner, described the events leading to Fang’s death, according to the FOX affiliate. (RELATED: Cash-Sniffing Dog Leads Border Agents To $27 Million Packed In Dozens Of Cardboard Boxes Headed To US Virgin Islands)
“He’s still a member of my family and it wasn’t just sad for me” officer Matt Herrera, the K-9’s partner said during the trial per the affiliate. “It was my wife, kids and parents … to go back and see that empty kennel in the backyard and know that there is no dog there, and to see the bloodstains in the truck that I had to clean up after he was killed.”
The defense asked for a 15-year sentence and probation.