UPDATED: Holly Boyd Gets 3 Years Probation for Killing Chihuahua in Fridley

UPDATED BELOW Anoka County District Judge Donald J. Venne sentenced a tearful Holly Boyd to three years probation Tuesday for throwing her Chihuahua puppy to its death at her Fridley apartment last March.

Vennes imposed but then stayed a 45-day jail sentence  for felony animal cruelty, warning Boyd that she would go to jail if she violated the terms of her probation.

Boyd must begin dialectical behavioral therapy within two weeks, among other requirements. Both Vennes and Boyd's public defender, Bradley Zunker, described Boyd's mental health as among the worst they had seen.

In court, Assistant County Attorney Kurt Deile asked Vennes to sentence Boyd to jail. After the sentencing, Deile said he would have preferred jail time for Boyd but respected the judge's sentence.

Boyd's case drew international attention last spring after she was against a piece of furniture. for a hearing in April. to one count of animal cruelty in September.

Speaking before her sentencing Tuesday, Boyd said she had since moved out of Fridley, and said had been off medication at the time she killed the dog due to a lack of medical insurance.

Updated (2:45 p.m.): Terms of Probation
Vennes did not impose any fine on Boyd, saying there was no basis for such a penalty due to Boyd's limited resources. In staying the 45-day jail term, he gave Boyd credit for two days she had already served.

Under the other terms of Boyd's probation, she must:

• Pay restitution of $200 for damaging intercom in jail while in custody for this offense. (Vennes dismissed the resulting separate misdemeanor charge  and wrapped the penalty into this sentence.)
• Take no mood altering drugs (including alcohol) except as prescribed.
• Submit to urine analysis or breath test as required by corrections officials.
• Submit to urine analysis on Tuesday.
• Follow all recommendations of psychologists.
• Begin dialectical behavioral therapy within two weeks.
• Have no contact with Phillip Archambault, the co-owner of the dog.
• Not own or house any live animal.
• Must not be involved in any assault and generally must be law abiding
• Must take all psychotropic drugs as required

Vennes also required Boyd to have no contact with Phillip Archambault, the co-owner of the dog.

Vennes advised Boyd to look at probation as "a way to organize yourself. ... You do these things or else. You have a lot of people who will help you. The job is being on probation."

Updated (3 p.m.): 'A Mental Mess'
The judge and both attorneys, who met before the sentencing, seemed chastened by the extent of Boyd's mental health issues.

Deile, the prosecutor, said it was "kind of a good thing"—not the crime, but that Boyd will get the help she needs. He recommended jail time "to help her get stabilitized.

"I've never seen a psychological evaluation quite like this," said Judge Vennes, adding that Boyd's condition was "much more serious" than most.

Zunker, Boyd's attorney was most blunt. "No offense to Ms. Boyd but she is a mental mess," he said. "It is the crux of why she's here."

In his 10 years of working with defendants, Zunker said, Boyd is in "the most dire need of mental health services. ... She's punished daily with regret for what she did to that dog. He described her  as "holing up in her apartment, sitting on Facebook."

(Protesters set up a Maximum Penalty for Holly Boyd, Minnesota Puppy Murderer Facebook page soon after Boyd was charged last spring.)

'My Own Prison'
For her part, Boyd told the judge, "I know what I did was wrong. I live with it .. in my own prison."

She said she had been hospitalized three times since the last time she appeared in his court, when she pled guilty in September.

The shame has sometimes been less private, she added.

"I've been booed off city buses," she said.