There were two distinct sides to the story of a man sentenced to state prison for a firearms violation, assault, and cruelty to animals on Friday.

John R. Frontera, 41, was sentenced to a total of 52 to 104 months in a state correctional institution Friday by Judge Gregory Hammond.

Frontera’s attorney, Stephen Sebald, said his client “has made a mess of his life thus far.”

“He truly wants to turn things around here,” Sebald said. “While he’s been in jail, he has walked the walk.”

Sebald said Frontera has been a trustee at the jail and has taken courses to better himself. “His chief concern is to get back to his 7-year-old,” Sebald said.

Fr. George Davis of Abundant Life Relationship Center testified on Frontera’s behalf after mentoring him every week to two weeks for the past year.

“John knows he’s screwed some things up,” Davis said. “He has tried to improve the situation.”

Davis said he was hoping that Frontera would be able to join the staff at Abundant Life. “His past is now their present,” he said.

“I can’t change the past,” Frontera said. “But I can change, and have changed.”

He said he knew that he would be sent to prison.

Hammond said he had read a letter from Frontera’s daughter “pleading with me to just let you go.”

District Attorney Rob Greene expressed doubts about whether Frontera was turning his life around. “People can change,” he said. “I hope this is the last time we’re going to see Mr. Frontera.”

Hammond was also skeptical.

“A simple promise of change is difficult to accept with that track record that you have,” he said.

A firearm was found in a box at Frontera’s residence, despite him being prohibited from possessing one, Hammond said. “You grabbed your female victim by the throat and threw her to the ground. You became agitated with a dog and stabbed it with a metal pipe.”

He said he had read some of the rehabilitative and educational work Frontera had done on a tablet in the jail.

He said Frontera denied accountability in one sample and blamed the victim in another.

With respect to Frontera’s daughter, “it’s heartbreaking what you’ve done to her,” Hammond said.

He said it was heartbreaking that someone had led her to believe there was a chance her father would come home after court on Friday if she wrote a letter, “when everybody knew darn well I wasn’t going to parole you today.”

In addition to the prison term, to which 372 days served was applied, Hammond ordered that Frontera pay $1,000 in fees, undergo a drug and alcohol evaluation, and undergo re-entry supervision for a period of 12 months following his release.