Convicted murder Raymond George will spend a long time in prison.
Judge Peter Lynch last Wednesday sentenced George to 25 years to life in prison for killing James Williams in June 2021.
A Schoharie County jury in September convicted George of second-degree murder, two counts of aggravated cruelty to animals and second-degree criminal mischief.
Mr. Williams and his two dogs, Sadie and Oakley, were relaxing outside his room at the Colonial Motel in Cobleskill when George drove his car into them and into the room.
Mr. Williams and one of the dogs died at the scene; the other dog died later.
Schoharie County District Attorney Susan Mallery said in September she would seek the maximum sentence for George.
She got it.
“To me, this is someone society really needs to see put away,” Ms. Mallery said Monday.
“The sentence is right where I wanted it. I felt we had an extremely strong case.”
George, 55, has a criminal history. He was convicted of rape in 2003, and he was convicted of murder, depraved indifference, a decision that an Appellate Court reduced to manslaughter in 2009.
The reduction to manslaughter allowed George to be paroled, so he “benefited” from the reduced charge and “manslaughter got him out,” Ms. Mallery said.
George was still on parole when he killed Mr. Williams.
“Society must be protected as Mr. Mr. George’s 35 years of serious criminal activity shows he cannot be rehabilitated,” Ms. Mallery said in a press release.
She was especially pleased with the sentences for aggravated cruelty to animals. The state doesn’t consider the charge to be a violent felony, but Ms. Mallery believes it should be treated as one.
“We don’t have a lot of convictions on cruelty to animals, so this will be extremely important for other prosecutors,” she said.
Judge Lynch sentenced George to two years for each of the aggravated cruelty to animal charges and 3.5 to seven years for second-degree criminal mischief.
The sentences will run concurrently, so all will be covered by George’s 25-years-to-life sentence.