An armed Berrien County Animal Control officer arrived at his Galien Township home July 25 to find an intruder loading his property into a vehicle.

“You’re lucky he didn’t shoot you,” Trial Court Judge Dennis Wiley told Jonnathan Davis Monday while sentencing him to 110 to 240 months in prison for first-degree home invasion.

“I’m thankful, your honor,” said Davis, on parole for another home invasion.

He was ordered to pay $2,248, including a $750 fine.

Home invasions are “doggone serious” because of the possibility of someone getting shot and killed when guns are involved, Wiley said.

“There’s absolutely no excuse for his behavior,” Assistant Prosecutor Kelly Travis said, calling Davis a “failure of the criminal justice system” who needs to be kept off the street and out of society.

“I couldn’t find a job and had given up,” said the 6-foot-7 Davis, who expressed no intent to hurt anyone or cause “undue fear,” when he knocked on the door to determine if anyone was home.

Wiley said in his more than 30 years of experience, home invasions go “horribly wrong” when weapons are involved because of the potential for murder, maiming, rape and robbery.

Davis said he accepts what the court gave him because he is guilty, which Wiley called “refreshing,” but said, since jobs are available, there was not an excuse.

In Davis’ case, a uniformed officer saw a suspicious vehicle in his driveway, approached his door, noticed it ajar and saw a man coming down the hall with a pillow case full of property.

He ordered the suspect down at gunpoint. At first the suspect complied and layed down, but then he got up and said, “You can’t shoot an unarmed man.”

He then left the house.

The officer, who attended the sentencing, commanded the suspect to stop or he would shoot the rear tire, but the suspect threw the vehicle in reverse and accelerated at a high rate of speed.

The officer fired his service weapon once and hit the driver’s side rear tire, disabling the vehicle while the suspect fled on foot into the woods.

Property taken included a flat-screen television, a video game system, two long guns and a vacuum cleaner.