Cat-Eating Woman Sentenced, Defense Attorney Says She's a 'Nice' Person

The American woman who killed and ate a cat -- sparking debunked claims by Donald Trump and J.D. Vance about Haitian immigrants dining on local pets in Ohio -- just got slapped with a year in prison.

Judge Frank Forchione didn’t hold back, calling 27-year-old Allexis Ferrell a "national embarrassment" as he sentenced her Monday ... and defense attorney Stephen J. Kandel tells TMZ she too felt some shame as soon as she came off her drug-fueled high and realized what she did.

Ferrell was arrested in Canton, Ohio in August. Kandel tells us Ferrell's actually a nice person who just majorly messed up after smoking weed laced with PCP, which led to the stomach-turning incident.

He says this was her first time eating a cat, or any pet ... and when she came to, she freaked out about possibly getting rabies and was all-around panicked about the health risks.

Kandel also noted that Ferrell does suffer from mental health issues despite being found competent to face the charges after evaluation. He says she wasn’t taking her prescribed meds at the time of the incident.

Despite the circumstances, Judge Forchione didn’t hold back, calling her a danger to the community during sentencing.

You’ll recall ... Ferrell’s case went viral in September when Trump cooked up that wild conspiracy theory about supposed cat-eating immigrants in Springfield, OH. It turned out, Ferrell is actually American, born and raised in Ohio, not an immigrant.