Beaumont, Texas — A Texas man has been sentenced to more than three years in prison after he admitted to kicking a cat, which he later set on fire, according to court documents.
Donald Williams, of Beaumont, was sentenced Tuesday to 40 months in prison as part of a plea agreement in which he previously pleaded guilty to animal crushing and aiding and abetting, according to documents filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Texas.
The attorney for the 30-year-old Williams did not immediately respond to a phone call seeking comment.
According to Davilyn Walston, a spokesperson for U.S. Attorney Damien Diggs, federal prosecutors worked with Texas prosecutors to determine whether the charges should be filed in state or federal court.
“Often, state penalties are not as severe when it comes to particularly serious offenders,” Walston said.
Williams could have faced as little as two years in prison under Texas law if he had been found guilty of animal cruelty or abuse.
He was charged under the federal Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act, which prohibits harming animals and showing videos of animal abuse.
The documents show that Williams and Decorius Mire found the cat in a parking lot in October 2021 and that Williams kicked the animal like it was a football. Mire filmed the kick with his cell phone and later posted the video to social media.
The criminal complaint in the case states that a third unknown person set the cat on fire shortly after kicking it 15 to 20 feet.
Mire also pleaded guilty as part of a plea agreement and was sentenced to 18 months in prison in July 2023.