Late last Friday afternoon, following a 7 1/2 hour hearing, Seiner was sentenced to a total of 70 years in jail - 69 years with the Indiana Department of Correction and one year in the Greene County jail for which he has already served the term while waiting for his sentencing hearing. Holt said it wasn't appropriate for him to comment outside of his sentence pronouncement on the rationale that went into his decision to hand down a sentence that was less than the 97-year prison term that Greene County Prosecutor Jarrod Holtsclaw had recommended by using consecutive rather than concurrent sentencing methods on three of the five counts. He continued, “In determining the sentences, the Court has considered the advisory sentence as determined by the Indiana legislature, as well as both aggravating circumstances and mitigating circumstances. The Superior Court judge wrote that the Court finds that the aggravating circumstances outweigh the mitigating circumstances, and warrant the imposition of sentences that are greater than the advisory sentences established by the Indiana legislature. Holt pointed out that the criminal act that constitutes Cruelty to an Animal in this case - the shooting of the Moore's family pet dog - was separate from other criminal charges and by being a misdemeanor its sentence was to be served in the county jail and not within the DOC penal system. read more
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