BEAUMONT, Texas – A Beaumont man has been sentenced to federal prison after pleading guilty to animal cruelty violations.
Decorius Mire, 24, was sentenced to 18 months in federal prison Monday for animal crushing, and aiding and abetting that occurred in October 2021.
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Animal crushing is defined under federal criminal law as, “conduct in which one or more living non-human mammals, birds, reptiles, or amphibians, is purposely crushed, burned, drowned, suffocated, impaled, or otherwise subjected to serious bodily injury,” according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, Eastern District of Texas.
The U.S. Attorney’s Office stated that Mire and a co-defendant encountered a live domestic cat in the parking lot of a Beaumont apartment complex in 2021. The unnamed co-defendant, encouraged by Mire, kicked the cat as if kicking a football field goal, propelling the cat approximately 15 to 20 feet through the air.
Mire filmed the event with his cell phone and then posted the video on his social media accounts, where it was commented on and shared with others.
He was indicted by a grand jury on September 28, 2022, and prosecuted under the Preventing Animal Cruelty and Torture Act.
In addition to banning intentional serious harm to animals, the act also bans “animal crush videos,” meaning any photograph, motion picture film, video or digital recording or electronic image that depicts animal cruelty.