By Matt Esnayra/The Daily News

Jessica Rosita Schmidt, 33, of Castle Rock was sentenced to a year in prison Tuesday after pleading guilty to duct-taping her dog’s muzzle, shooting him in the head and leaving him in a ditch in Toutle last year.

“Cruel is an understatement,” Cowlitz County Superior Court Presiding Judge Thad Scudder said at the hearing.

Schmidt is prohibited from owning or living with animals in the future. Her remaining charges of making false or misleading statements to a public officer, second-degree driving while license is suspended or revoked, and first-degree attempted cruelty to animals were dismissed.

She has a history of animal abuse. Court records show witnesses told Cowlitz County officials they saw Schmidt injuring her white English retriever named Baylor before PUD officials found him injured on the side of Spirit Lake Memorial Highway on Nov. 2, 2023.

Philp Dufresne of Castle Rock said he was her former neighbor and gave a similar account to the court.

Dufresne claimed that Schmidt had abused other dogs she owned before Baylor, who is now named Trooper and was adopted by Dylan Shulda, a Cowlitz County PUD employee.

“This is not her first rodeo,” Dufresne said of Schmidt’s animal cruelty.

Additionally, court records show that Schmidt has a criminal history that includes second-degree theft, third-degree assault, second-degree unauthorized use of a motor vehicle, and driving without a license. All of these incidents occurred in Lewis County in 2017.

Schmidt’s lawyer, Daniel Alexander Mellen, who has offices in Vancouver and Longview, told Scudder that his client “deeply regrets her actions.”

“She feels terrible,” he said.

However, as Schmidt was being led out of the courtroom by prison officers, she gave the middle finger to the audience in the gallery.

Similar friction arose at the beginning of the hearing. As Schmidt left the gallery to enter the courtroom, Dufresne shouted from the audience, “Enjoy prison,” to which she replied, “Two months is a load of crap.”

Scudder ignored the prosecutor’s recommendation to send him to county jail for two months and opted for a year instead.

Shulda and his wife, Shelly, of Longview, were also present at the sentencing. Shelly Shulda said the officer may need surgery later. The shooting caused damage to an optic nerve and affected one of his eyes.

According to a police report, the dog suffered a small-caliber weapon injury from a close-range shot, with the bullet shattering in his head.

Shelly Shulda said the verdict was fair.

“A year is better than two months,” she said.