04:06 PM PDT on Thursday, April 6, 2006

By SUSAN WYATT / KING5.com

TACOMA – After making a plea deal, a Spanaway woman on Thursday was sentenced to 30 days in jail and 30 days of community service for poisoning her neighbor’s three cats.

Prosecutors say Donna Clark, 42, intentionally placed a deadly mix of chicken and anti-freeze in the back yard of her Spanaway home last May.

Joe Ashbaugh's cats Billy, Topper and Kiki, ate the poisonous meal and died a short time later.

Prosecutors originally charged Clark with felony first degree animal cruelty. Last November, Clark agreed to a plea of a less weighty second degree charge. But a judge then refused to accept it, saying the case had “prosecutorial merit.”

Then on Thursday, prosecutors agreed to another deal on a misdemeanor charge for "poisoning animals," thus avoiding a trial. Attorneys said they couldn’t prove Clark intended to cause suffering or knew three cats would be fatally poisoned.

Ashbaugh was not happy with the plea deal.

KING

Judge Kathryn J. Nelson sentenced Donna Clark to 30 days in jail and 30 days of community service.

"The fact is she did mean to do it, she did it, she told people she was going to do it. There was no accident," he said.

He said Clark's actions did fall into the category of a Class C felony.

“I think that’s what she should be charged with and I just want a jury to decide. I’d be happy with their decision. There’s plenty of evidence here and I feel that she would be found guilty,” he said.

After the sentence was handed down, Judge Kathryn J. Nelson ordered Clark taken directly to jail.

“Even though this is a misdemeanor, this is serious and you need to be held accountable for this grievous act, “ she said. “And I frankly am not persuaded that you understand the full extent of what you did, and you will serve jail time.”

The co-founder of Pasado's Safe Haven animal sanctuary, Susan Michaels, said 30 days in jail simply isn't enough.

"Pasado's Safe Haven passed its third animal cruelty bill in as many years in 2006. But what good are these laws, and penalties they call for, if law enforcement and prosecutors don't use them? What more does it take for a conviction of felony animal cruelty than intentionally poisoning three animals with a toxic substance that, as a nurse, she would have known to have cause prolonged pain and suffering?" she said.