Boys Get 10 Years For Puppy Torture

A pair of teenage Atlanta brothers will soon begin serving a ten-year prison sentence for the torture killing of a puppy.

The Moulder brothers, 19-year-old Justin and 17-year-old Joshua, pleaded guilty to binding the puppy in duct tape, then cooking the dog to death in a gas oven.

The boys threw themselves on the mercy of the court, but the court had other ideas.

"Your actions are totally despicable; totally reprehensible," said the judge from the bench.

With that, the judge sentenced each of the boys to ten years.

"It's going to be rough on them," said defense attorney Timothy Owens. "We'll get on with our lives, but they're the ones who have to live with this. They're the ones who have to do the time, and quite frankly, the sentence didn't match up to the crime."

But the courtroom was packed with people who disagreed -- many believing the sentence was not long enough, given the brothers' conduct.

"That was very surprising, and actually frightening," said prosecutor Laura Janssen. "Just to see how little remorse they had, and how something so serious was so funny to them."

Thousands of people from around the world demanded justice in the case -- a rare outpouring that the D.A. did not ignore.

"We wanted to send a message to people in our county that we really respected the life of an animal in this case," said Fulton County District Attorney Paul Howard.

Prosecutors said the case went way beyond animal abuse. They believe for the Moulder brothers, it was puppies first; humans next. And that the torture was little more than a rehearsal for murder.