A state judge sentenced Kahaluu dog breeder James Montgomery to nine months in jail this morning for torturing one of his animals.

The nine-month jail term is part of a four-year probation sentence Circuit Judge Shirley Kawamura handed Montgomery for first-degree animal cruelty. The maximum sentence she could have imposed for the class C felony is five years in prison.

Montgomery, 69, pleaded no contest to the charge in April in a deal to have 33 counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty against him dropped.

The felony charge stems from the discovery in May last year of a severely malnourished puppy in a garbage bin outside Montgomery’s Mahakea Road home.