BRENTWOOD – A Plaistow woman was sentenced 4 to 8 years in state prison for force feeding metal objects to her ex-boyfriend's two German Shepherds during a jealous rage, causing one of the animals to die.

Jamie Labbe, 35, was convicted by a Rockingham County jury on Aug. 22 of attempted cruelty to animals, criminal mischief and cruelty to animals.

She tortured the dogs over several days between March and April 2011, feeding them metal bolts, a lighter and a shower head.

One witness told prosecutors that Labbe confided that, “she hated the dogs,” and became jealous over the attention her boyfriend, Kurt Kohn, gave to the two German Shepherds named Pebbles and Magic.

Her abuse so terrified the two pets they would urinate on the floor when she walked into the room, Labbe confided to her friend.

Deputy County Attorney Tom Reid relayed that anecdote along with text messages Labbe sent to her friend, Angela Gaff, during the trial. Labbe encouraged Gaff to ignore a subpoena to testify about their conversations about the abuse, according to Reid.

“It shows the premeditated nature of this plan that was an ongoing thing,” Reid said of the abuse, “And what looks like a concerted effort to keep an important witness off the stand.”

The case garnered its own public campaign online, including one petition that collected 1,800 signatures calling for Labbe to be barred from ever owning any animals again.

Judge Marguerite Wageling said Labbe's crime was unlike any other animal cruelty case she has seen in her 27 years of practicing law.

She agreed with the sentence recommended by prosecutors, and forbid Labbe from ever owning or having control of an animal again.

"What she did to them was tremendously scary and painful," said Wageling, who noted at the end of the hearing that she was not a pet owner herself.

Defense lawyer Tom Gleason said that his client has suffered from a history of mental illness and had sought help at the local mental health facility two months prior to abusing the dogs.

For more on this story, see Saturday editions of the New Hampshire Union-Leader.