A Cobb County man was sentenced to three years in prison Friday for throwing his small dog over a second-floor hotel balcony last summer.
Marcell Sibley, 29, of Smyrna, said stress stemming from having no job or home and medical problems caused him to snap in July, when he grabbed his Yorkshire terrier and slapped it before putting it in a cage and tossing the whole thing over the balcony. Sibley then picked up the cage and put it in a trash bin. The incident was captured on security cameras at the All-Around Suites in Marietta.
He pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated cruelty to animals.
“I’m just really sorry, and I don’t think going to jail will help me or my dog,” Sibley told Cobb County Superior Court Judge Stephen Schuster. “It was my fault. She didn’t deserve that.”
The dog, Diamond, survived the fall, but was seriously injured. The dog now lives with a family in Florida.
But Schuster sentenced Sibley to three years in prison and ordered him to be returned to the Cobb County jail.
“You picked the dog up. You put it in the crate. You threw the crate over the balcony. You then went downstairs, picked up the crate and put it in the dumpster. You then left the scene,” Schuster said. “Those were not good choices that day. Diamond’s love for you was unconditional. And in return for that unconditional love, you threw Diamond off the balcony, then picked up the crate and threw it in the Dumpster.”
Sibley was being booked into the Cobb jail Friday afternoon.
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