A Central Illinois man who authorities said starved, dehydrated and confined his dog was sentenced Tuesday for cruel treatment of an animal.
Brennan Gunville will serve 120 days in McLean County jail, and 24 months' probation, with some additional conditions. The case centers on Winston, a boxer that was 2 years old when he was rescued last September.
Gunville kept Winston at his residence in Lexington, though he claims he was living with his girlfriend and looking for work in Springfield at the time. Taking the witness stand Tuesday, Lexington Police Chief Tim Edmiaston said Gunville claimed to be visiting every few days to care for Winston.
Spurred by concerned neighbors, it was Edmiaston who found Winston on the property while checking in on Gunville. The dog was emaciated and trapped in a feces-covered kennel.
“He looked like a walking skeleton,” Edmiaston said of his first encounter with the animal. “You could see just about every bone in his body.”
Winston was cared for by Ruby’s Rescue and Retreat in McLean County, with medical help from Eastland Companion Animal Hospital in Bloomington. A veterinarian's report from the latter said Winston had received “complete neglect for days or weeks, and partial neglect for months.”
Today, Winston is recovered and quite comfortable, according to his former caregivers at Ruby’s. Tim Christensen worked with Winston, and said he’s found a family. He now weighs 66 pounds — his weight doubled since he was found in Lexington.
Christensen also said awareness is an important component in protecting animals. Winston’s case is a prime example, given the concern of neighbors that led to his recovery.
“If you see something, say something,” Christensen said. “That’s what eventually got him out of there, y’know, people aware of their surroundings.”
Gunville's sentencing on Tuesday followed a guilty plea of cruel treatment of animals, a class A misdemeanor. Three other charges were dropped. Attorneys on both sides presented their cases for a harsher or lighter punishment.
Prosecutor Emily Young questioned Erin Barnard, who spoke about her experience renting a room to Gunville around June 2014. Barnard said Gunville kept a dog, a Boxer-Pitbull named Mia, in the room against her rental conditions.
According to Barnard, her visiting mother found Mia in an empty kennel and darkened room while Barnard was at work. The dog was underweight, for which Gunville claimed a stomach problem was the cause, Barnard recalled.
Barnard and Gunville would eventually break their agreement, owing in part to Gunville’s habits as a tenant, but largely his reticence to bring Mia in for medical care. Barnard said she kicked out Gunville and took over Mia’s care, after which the dog went from 40 to 60 pounds in only a few weeks. Mia lived with Barnard until the dog's death in 2021, and never showed signs of stomach problems, she said.
Young used the testimony to show Gunville’s treatment of Winston was not an isolated act. She also pointed out that Gunville used a similar excuse for Winston’s condition as for Mia’s, once claiming Winston had a bladder infection to a neighbor in Lexington. Gunville had also asked a neighbor with rescue experience about the process of giving up a dog in the months before Winston’s recovery. Young said this showed Gunville knew better options existed to care for him, but did not exercise them.
As mitigating evidence, Gunville submitted five letters from those close to him. Judge Scott Kording said the letters were extremely supportive, and he was pleasantly surprised that Gunville had clearly been honest about the nature of his conduct. Gunville also was coping with the death of his mother around the time Winston’s treatment was uncovered.
Eight photos of Winston at time of rescue were submitted to evidence. Kording called them “nauseating.” In light of Gunville’s previous treatment of Mia and all that was uncovered regarding Winston, Kording said “mistreatment is a charitable definition of what has been proven here,” and agreed Gunville’s behavior could not be explained as an isolated episode with simple, proximate cause.
In the lead-up to the sentencing hearing, about 65 demonstrators rallied outside the McLean County Law and Justice Center for harsh penalties for Gunville and animal cruelty broadly. Attendees were volunteers, supporters or workers with Ruby’s Rescue, including Ruby’s owner Jean Ann Hert.
“Being an animal rescue, we’ve seen some other cases, too, where people are just getting a slap on a wrist. And this [mistreatment] is just continuing and continuing and it needs to stop. And I think harsher penalties will help,” Hert said.
Kording’s sentence saw widespread satisfaction from demonstrators in attendance — 120 days in jail, with an additional 60 stayed on the conditions of a 24-month probation. Gunville is required to pay about $1,600 in restitution to Ruby’s Rescue, complete 150 hours of community service, and undergo mental health evaluation. He also is barred from having companion animals during probation.
Kording said Gunville’s good record of service with the National Guard gave him confidence Gunville would be compliant with the terms. He has been ordered to report to McLean County jail on Nov. 4.
