Man Held On 100K for Burning Dog to Death

This guy, if found guilty, will see some prison time.

The judge in this case deserves some kudos:

A judge doubled the bail Tuesday for a Long Island man accused of burning his pit bull alive after a grand jury returned an indictment charging the suspect with two felony counts of animal cruelty and other offenses.

Derick Phanord's attorney claimed after the arraignment in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead that his client's family has been receiving anonymous threatening telephone calls and messages at his Brentwood home since his arrest last month.

Phanord, 22, was ordered held on $100,000 cash bail after he pleaded not guilty to two felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals, two misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals, as well as weapons possession and traffic charges. If convicted, he could face two years in prison, prosecutors said.

Says his defense attorney (oh boo hoo):

"The young man must have been in tremendous shock in order to conduct himself that way," said Sabeti, who said his client was a special education student who never graduated high school. "Maybe the anger of Derick arose from the attack the pit bull made on his puppy?"

Sabeti, who said Phanord's family has been receiving threats ever since his arrest, said his client is "extremely, extremely remorseful. He doesn't know what he can do to correct the past."