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