Minnesota Man Gets 90 Days for Fatal Dog Beating

SHAKOPEE, Minn. (AP) - A Minnesota man who repeatedly hit his 13-year-old dog over the head with a sledgehammer last summer has been sentenced to 90 days in jail.

Seventy-one-year-old Rudolph Poppe of Savage also will be on probation for five years.

Reports say about two dozen supporters of Justice 4 Millie, a group that sprang up after Poppe was charged with felony animal cruelty, attended the sentencing Tuesday.

Poppe pleaded guilty in October to one count of animal cruelty and one of obstructing the legal process, a gross misdemeanor. Two other charges were dismissed.

Police were called to Poppe's home on July 12 and found the dog with a white plastic bag tied over its head in the driveway. The dog had a crushed skull and had to be euthanized.