FARMINGTON – A man accused of shooting a dog in the head and leaving it alive to suffer last March pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor charge of cruelty to animals Thursday.

Cea J. Pitcher, 20, of Farmington, also pleaded guilty in a separate case Thursday to a felony burglary charge and a misdemeanor theft charge in Franklin County Superior Court.

A Farmington man found the dog wandering on a road and brought it to a veterinary hospital, where the dog required extensive surgery to repair its shattered jaw. It had been shot with a .22-caliber gun through the jaw.

Donations from around the world poured in to help the dog.

Justice Joseph Jabar went along with a plea agreement between the state and Pitcher and sentenced Pitcher to 18 months in the Franklin County jail with all but 60 days suspended for the burglary charge, 60 days on the theft charge and 60 days on the cruelty-to-animals charge. The latter two sentences are to be served concurrently with the burglary sentence.

Pitcher received two years’ probation for the burglary charge.

Jabar also ordered Pitcher to pay restitution of $150 to the burglary victims, to submit to random search and testing for alcohol and drugs, and to undergo counseling.

Jabar denied a request to stay the sentence until January so Pitcher could continue to work to support his family, but did give him until 7 p.m. Thursday, Nov. 4, to report to jail.

The burglary and theft charges are connected to Pitcher’s entering a Farmington residence in April and taking change and lottery tickets.

During the hearing, Pitcher’s girlfriend sat in the courtroom crying with the couple’s 2-day- old son in a baby carrier on the floor next to her.

Assistant District Attorney Andrew Robinson said that Pitcher adopted the dog in the spring but had a difficult time with it.

Though there were other alternatives, such as bringing the dog to a shelter or bringing it back to its former owners, Robinson said, Pitcher chose to exercise his lawful right as owner to terminate the dog’s life.

He wasn’t successful in the attempt. Pitcher thought the dog was dead, Robinson said.

Pitcher told police he brought the dog out to destroy it because it had twice bitten people, including a young nephew.

The law requires an owner who exercises the option to terminate an animal’s life to do it in a humane way that causes instantaneous death, without torturing or maiming the animal.

If Pitcher had shot and killed the dog, that would have been legal. Since it didn’t die, it is a crime, Robinson said.

Elwin Churchill, the Farmington man who found the dog, told the court that the recommended 60-day sentence running concurrently with the other sentences was not enough to do justice to the dog.

Charles Cummings of Industry, the new owner of the dog, said the dog is doing well today and has undergone extensive rehabilitation.

“I hope, young man, you learn that this is not the right way to treat an animal,” Cummings said to Pitcher.

Pitcher’s attorney, Richard Morton, said his client had no record and feels terrible for what happened.

He also said his client made some very poor choices and recognizes that. Pitcher has really made an effort to change the pattern of his life and learn from those choices, Morton said.

“I didn’t mean to hurt the dog,” Pitcher said, as he cried. “I thought he was dead. … I had never shot a dog before. I had never used a gun before.”