A WANNABE mayor has been jailed for clubbing his dog to death with a hammer and dumping the corpse in a trash can.
Joseph Cryer told police his name was Jesus Christ and he had sent the pet to be with his brother in heaven after the savage attack in Maryland.
Cryer, who pulled out of the race to be mayor of Ocean City in 2018, hit the dog so hard clumps of flesh were found scattered in his garden.
He was reported to cops by a concerned neighbor who heard him screaming beside his house in the resort in September.
When officers arrived he pointed inside his home and screamed repeatedly “They killed my dog”, according to court records seen by the Salisbury Daily Times.
He had scratches on his hands and dried blood on his long johns.
Cryer twice told an officer his name was Jesus Christ, the arrest report says.
Police saw a 2ft-wide pool of blood in the yard and also found what appeared to be “flesh of something that was once alive.”
The mutilated corpse in a bin had a hole in the head and lacerations to the throat.
Cryer initially said he had cast the dog into the sky before admitting he hit it with a hammer.
He told the police officer: “It was extremely painful.”
Questioned further, Cryer said the dog “went to heaven to be with my brother.”
To demonstrated it to the officer, he bent over with his hands near the ground, as if holding the dog, then motioned toward the sky.
MOST READ IN US NEWS
Asked if he was said, he said his pet was happy to be reunited with his brother.
Last week Cryer admitted aggravated animal cruelty and inflicting unnecessary suffering.
He was sentenced to three years in jail – but will serve only five months and 29 days behind bars with the rest suspended.