A Florida landscaper accused of cackling as he deliberately ran over a family of ducklings with a riding mower probably isn't laughing now: He's been sentenced to a year in jail on nine counts of animal cruelty—one for each dead duckling—and on an unrelated domestic battery charge, the Sun Sentinel reports. According to a police report, 24-year-old Jason Falbo said, "They were in my path so I just kept mowing," but a witness whose horrified 7-year-old son was also present said Falbo laughed as he drove out of his way to run over the duck family, then laughed as he backed up over them. The mother duck and four of her 11 ducklings made it back to a pond, but two of the ducklings drowned.
"They should have just thrown away the keys," the witness tells the Palm Beach Post. "There is no justification for what he's done." As part of the plea deal, Falbo also pleaded guilty to domestic battery by strangulation about a month before the duck incident and will spend three years on probation, reports the Sun Sentinel. He's also banned from keeping animals or living with somebody who has pets. Last month, he wrote a letter to the judge urging him not to "destroy my chance to be a pillar of the community" and saying he plans to become an X-ray technician. (A firefighter's ringtone helped save six ducklings from a storm drain.)
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