"I'm sorry for what I did," Quincy Lee Morrow, 23, told Ramsey County District Judge Rosanne Nathanson at his sentencing hearing Thursday morning.

Morrow of St. Paul pleaded guilty to animal cruelty in September after he was accused of throwing his girlfriend's 5-month-old pit bull puppy named Remy over her apartment balcony in Maplewood last November. The puppy, whose legs were broken, had to be euthanized.

The judge followed the plea agreement reached in September and stayed imposition of a prison sentence for Morrow. She gave him credit for the 32 days he has spent in custody and put him on probation for two years. The judge also said Morrow is "absolutely prohibited from owning pets or living in a household where there are pets."

Morrow's attorney, Ellen Seesel, told the judge that her client was struggling with mental-health issues at the time of the incident.

"He is very very sorry for what he did," Seesel said. He is now living in an apartment and voluntarily getting counseling, she said.

"I don't think you'll see him back here," Seesel told Nathanson.

According to the charges, Morrow told police the dog nipped his hand and bit onto his sleeve. Morrow said he lifted his hands in the air and the 27-pound dog flew over the balcony's 4-foot-high railing. But his cousin said Morrow dropped the puppy over the railing when it barked at him.

PAT PHEIFER