Judge sentences man in dogfighting

YOUNGSTOWN -- A 24-year-old East Side man, already serving 18 months in prison on two felony dogfighting convictions, appeared in municipal court for sentencing on misdemeanor convictions related to the case.
Zaccheus James of Cassius Avenue was ordered to serve 90 days for misdemeanor animal cruelty and 180 days for an insurance liability violation. Municipal Judge Robert A. Douglas Jr. ordered that the sentences would run concurrent with the sentence on the felonies.
In the felony case, James was sentenced earlier this month in Mahoning County Common Pleas Court on the dogfighting charges and a marijuana possession charge.
The case was investigated last year by the Ohio Department of Agriculture's dogfighting task force. Task force agents set up surveillance equipment to monitor activity at James' home, and a fight was caught on video.
James' attorney, Robert Rohrbaugh III, has said the fight caught on tape was not for sport but was a spontaneous fight among dogs.
Thirteen dogs were taken during a raid at the home.