A Lakewood woman was sentenced Thursday to 10 years of probation and 45 days in jail after pleading guilty to aggravated animal cruelty for setting her dog on fire inside her home in October.
Tanya Marie Martin, 38, had changed her plea from not guilty by reason of insanity.
Doctors at the Colorado Mental Health Institute found she was insane at the time she set the fire.
“This is a tragic criminal act that has its roots in mental illness,” Scott Storey, Jefferson County district attorney, said in a statement. He said Martin has had episodes of mental illness since her teens and had no criminal history.
“Her failure to take her medication as prescribed had disastrous consequences in this case,” Storey said. “We take cruelty against animals seriously, and a felony conviction was appropriate considering the circumstances.”
