Man escapes jail because 'dead' dog lives

salem - A man who has been sentenced to 50 years in prison for sexual abuse has been released because of a striking detail. According to the self-declared victim, Joshua Horner shot her dog to silence her.

That turns out to be nonsense. The dog is alive. As a result, an important part of the statements of the underage girl has come under threat, reports Associated Press and Fox News, after which the sentence has been canceled.

How did it come to this? In 2017 Horner, a plumber, was found guilty of sexual abuse of a minor. He had stated that Horner would kill her pets if she talked to the police. To prove that, he already shot her dog dead.

Horner did not understand. The story of the girl was bullshit, he said. Nevertheless, he was found guilty by the jury. Disillusioned, Horner sought refuge at the Oregon Innocence Project, where people who say they are innocent are being helped.

There they thought that a living dog could pull the story down. Several people went looking for the dog and indeed; it was found after a while, in another city. Presumably the animal was given away. 'We played with him. It was great, 'says a volunteer from the Oregon Innocence Project.