ELLSWORTH – A Maine Maritime Academy student pleaded no contest Tuesday to killing a pig in a case that has attracted attention from animal rights activists nationwide.

Richard Hanning, 23, received a fine of $1,000 but no jail time after entering the no contest plea Tuesday in Ellsworth District Court.

In handing down the sentence, Judge Bernard Staples said Hanning and fellow MMA student Timothy Golden, who pleaded no contest last October to helping to kill the pig, were equally culpable in the incident and should receive identical sentences. Golden also received a $1,000 fine and no jail time.

Hancock County District Attorney Michael Povich had asked that Hanning be fined $1,200. Hanning’s attorney, Michael Harman of Millinocket, had argued his client should be fined $500.

Hanning was not out to torture the pig in April 2002 when he and Golden pulled it from the back of a pickup truck, dragged it onto a Castine beach and cut its throat, Staples said.

“He was doing what he felt was acceptable,” the judge said.

Povich has received letters from around the country urging him to prosecute Golden and Hanning fully for the animal’s death, and to require them to undergo psychological counseling. The identical wording of many of the letters indicates that some kind of form letter likely was made available on a Web site, which encouraged people to send the letters to Povich, the district attorney said.

Povich sought to have a videotape of the killing, recorded by another MMA student, played Tuesday in court, but Staples instead opted to have a state veterinarian who has viewed the tape describe what it shows.

Donald Hoenig of Belfast, a veterinarian who works for the Maine Department of Agriculture, said that it took the pig roughly six minutes to die after Golden held it down and Hanning sliced its neck open with a knife. “There were bubbles coming out [of the neck],” Hoenig told Staples.

Hoenig said the approved method for slaughtering pigs involves stunning the animal before cutting its neck so that it suffers as little as possible.

“I don’t think it was done in this case,” Hoenig said.

Povich, noting Golden had received the same sentence, said after the proceeding that he thought Hanning’s sentence was fair.

Harman said after the proceeding that another veterinarian with whom he consulted viewed the tape and determined the pig suffered for only 30 seconds.

He said the videotaped killing was not as gruesome as Povich indicated.

“It’s certainly not pleasant, but it’s not beyond the experience of people who grew up in rural Maine with farm animals,” Harman said. “Back then, things were different.”

Harman said Hanning is glad to have the matter behind him.

“He looks forward to a bright future,” Harman said. “He’s not an evil person.”