A judge has placed a Warren man on probation for kicking a puppy so hard, it died.

Trumbull County Common Pleas Court Judge Ronald Rice ordered that 24-year-old Maurice Brown be placed on community control for the next five years.

Police say Brown kicked a six-month-old Labrador Retriever so hard that its neck was broken and the puppy died.

Brown pleaded guilty in November to violating Ohio's law protecting companion animals, also known as Goddard's Law which increased the penalty for animal cruelty from 90 days to one year.

Conditions of Brown's probation include random drug testing, drug and alcohol assessments, anger management counseling, a curfew and completion of a government-run behavioral program.

According to the court, if Brown violates terms of his probation he will be sent to jail to serve that one year sentence.

When Brown's case was still in Warren Municipal Court, it drew the interest of an animal rights activist group known as Nitro's Army, which held demonstrations outside the courtroom during his hearings.