Former student gets 120 days in jail for horse's slaying

BRYAN (AP) - A former Texas A&M student has been sentenced to 120 days in jail for the killing of a show horse near a Bryan apartment complex.

Walter Williams was sentenced Wednesday. He pleaded guilty to cruelty to an animal. Prosecutors though, say the 22-year-old was not the main aggressor in the October 2006 killing.

Both Williams' defense attorneys and prosecutors said 22-year-old Kenneth Peterson was responsible for most of the horse's fatal wounds. Peterson is serving a six-month sentence for the same crime after being convicted by a jury five months ago.

Police arrested the two men soon after the crime, saying the pair had hit the horse with croquet mallets and golf clubs.

Defense attorney Stephen Gustitis says that Williams stabbed the animal with the broken shaft of a golf club to put her out of her misery.

But assistant District Attorney Shane Phelps says that Williams encouraged and accompanied Peterson as he attacked the horse.

(Copyright 2008 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)