Lyden Blackburn, 27, was sentenced this week in Asotin County Superior Court by Judge Brooke Burns to three years in prison for killing a sow and two piglets at the Clarkston FFA barn in Clarkston, Wash.
Blackburn was arrested on July 1 and pleaded guilty to malicious killing of livestock, second-degree animal cruelty, first-degree burglary and two counts of second-degree theft of livestock. Blackburn was accused of stealing a roommate’s rifle, walking to the high school’s barn and killing the pigs in the early morning hours of May 16.
According to the Lewiston Tribune, the standard sentencing range on the Class A felony of first-degree burglary was between 31 and 41 months in prison, based on crimes charged and criminal history.
Blackburn was ordered to pay $16,380 in restitution to the Clarkston FFA program, the Lewiston Tribune reports. He was also ordered to pay a $500 fine.
Security cameras caught an unknown man at the time of the incident at the Clarkston High School FFA barn, shirtless and armed with a gun and two dead piglets slung over his shoulder.
Court documents show Blackburn told police that he did not remember the incident because he was intoxicated. Videos circulated on social media, prompting an outcry from the community, local news reports.
The sow was purchased as a breeding animal at the Asotin County Fair back in April, school officials said.
FFA advisor Cami Browne expressed her concern for her students’ safety as well as her devastation of this crime in social media posts.
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