A Kenosha man must serve one year in jail for killing a dog while driving drunk.

Kenosha County Circuit Judge Mary Wagner also sentenced Dennis O. Kent to three years probation and banned him from driving for 27 months.

“You put yourself in that car drunk as a skunk, under the influence of alcohol and medications,” Wagner said during Kent’s sentencing Friday. “You just don’t regard anybody’s rules.”

Wagner chided Kent for driving through alleys in August 2008 in an attempt to avoid city streets when he was drunk. Kent suggested he was trying to be safe, a report says. Wagner suspected he just didn’t want to get caught; this was his third offense for driving while intoxicated.

Either way, it was not only a poor decision, but illegal — and deadly, Wagner said.

As he drove down an alley in the 4500 block of 30th Avenue in Kenosha, Kent ran over a 9-year-old black Labrador named Bear. The dog was dragged under Kent’s car and had to be put down because of his injuries.

“You’re a fortunate man that, instead of that dog, it wasn’t a baby or a small child,” Wagner said.

Kent was charged with animal mistreatment as a felony and accused of intentionally hitting the dog. That allegation was disputed at trial, and jurors found Kent did not run down Bear on purpose. Kent was convicted of a misdemeanor for recklessly killing the dog.

Kent, 50, formerly of Racine, was given credit for 116 days already served.

In addition to jail, he must pay a $1,282 fine and restitution, including $523.

A hearing will be held to decide full restitution, which is expected to include compensation for stealing electricity from a neighbor and taking an estimated $4,000 in scrap metal from an elderly woman’s burned-out trailer home; Kent was sentenced Friday for those cases, as well as the deadly drunken-driving incident.

Wagner scolded Kent again as she reviewed the other case files.

In the scrap metal theft, also from August 2008, Kent had reportedly been told his scrapping services were not needed; the family of the 81-year-old owner hoped to use the scrap to make up for losses not covered by insurance.

In the electricity theft, Kent wired an extension cord from a neighbor’s junction box to his apartment. As a result, the neighbor fell further behind on utility bills.

“I was just trying to provide electricity for my family until ours got turned on,” Kent said, adding that he at least knew what he was doing because he was an apprentice electrician.

Wagner balked at the justification.

“You could have burned that house down,” she said. Or worse, she added, someone else could have been electrocuted.

As part of his probation, Kent cannot have a pet. He also cannot contact any of his victims and must have alcohol and drug treatment.

If Kent violates probation, Wagner could send him to prison for up to four years and three months.

Kent apologized for his crimes.

“I had relapsed and was in deep mourning due to my mother’s death,” he said. “But that doesn’t excuse my actions.”