In Los Angeles earlier this month, a legal case that had drawn worldwide publicity finally ended when a superior court judge threw the book at the man everybody loved to hate: Andrew Burnett, convicted in June of animal cruelty for grabbing a woman's dog from her car after a minor accident and tossing it into traffic on a San Jose expressway last year. The dog -- a fluffy white bichon frise named Leo -- died, and now Burnett faces three years in prison, the maximum sentence allowed under California law.

That may have ended the case, but it hasn't ended the debate that flared when the incident first made headlines nearly 18 months ago. In fact, the stiff sentence has started it up all over again, pitting triumphant animal-rights advocates against those who think Burnett has been treated too harshly. Feelings continue to run high.

At one extreme is the view expressed last week in a surprisingly emotional statement by Democratic Sen. Robert Byrd of West Virginia. "It was not just road rage," Mr. Byrd told the Senate, "it was bestial cruelty. . . . It was an act of sheer depravity to seize a fluffy, furry, innocent little dog and toss it on a roadway, . . . most certainly to be crushed under tons of onrushing steel, iron, glass and rubber, while its terrified owner, and perhaps other people in other vehicles, watched."