A Gwinnett County jury quickly convicted a man of burning down his girlfriend’s home, killing four pets, after looting the place, the district attorney’d office announced Thursday.
Jonathan Clint Smith, 39, was arrested in 2013 on charges of arson, cruelty to animals and theft after he twice called police to the residence he shared with his girlfriend on Peace Rose Place in Loganville.
He called the first time that Jan. 29 to report a burglary — in which the family Chow-mix Kiki was found locked in a bedroom — and then two days later to report the house was engulfed in flames.
Inside, firefighters found the remains of Kiki, the three family cats and gasoline.
Smith claimed he chased a man and a woman away from the house and returned to find it burning. Police investigators, however, found that Smith had pawned items he had reported destroyed in the fire.
Police arrested Smith two months later. This week the jury moved much quicker after the trial, which began Monday, said Dan Mayfield, chief assistant district attorney for Gwinnett County.
“After deliberating for about 30 minutes, the jury found Smith guilty on all counts,” Mayfield said.
Sentencing has been deferred to another date, Mayfield said.
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