TAKE POLL: If convicted, should a person get jail time for killing an animal?

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- meriem

sb299871

Saturday, September 20, 2008 10:47 PM

TAKE POLL! 'If convicted, should a person get jail time for killing an animal?' YES!!!!

 

 

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/ny_crime/2008/09/19/2008-09-19_joseph_petcka_testifies_that_he_was_terr.html

Joseph Petcka testifies that he was terrorized by Lisa Altobelli's 7-lb. cat

By BARBARA ROSS and LARRY McSHANE DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Friday, September 19th 2008, 3:22 PM

Lombard for News

Joseph Petcka

A 6-foot-2, 205-pound witness today recounted his night of terror: knocked to the ground, blood bubbling from his hand, kicking madly at his relentless attacker - a 7-pound tabby.

"He was coming at my legs," claimed ex-minor league pitcher Joseph Petcka, detailing three separate attacks by his girlfriend's pet cat, Norman. Petcka is claiming self-defense in the March 27, 2007, death of the 8-year-old kitty.

Vet in Joseph Petcka trial says kitty was brutally beaten, not 'pushed away'

By BARBARA ROSS and DAVE GOLDINER DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITERS

Friday, September 19th 2008, 1:49 AM

Lombard for News

Joseph Petcka hurries to court Thursday, where he faces charges he fatally beat lover's cat (below). X-ray of cat (bottom) shows injuries.

 

Norman the cat

 

Norman the cat ambushed me!

Accused kitty-killer Joseph Petcka Thursday admitted kicking and smacking his girlfriend's pet - but insisted he acted in self-defense.

The hulking bit-part actor claimed he told girlfriend Lisa Altobelli that the 7-pound tabby bit his hand and lunged at him as he dozed on the couch in her Tribeca pad.

RELATED: 'MONSTER' KILLED MY CAT, SHE TESTIFIES

"Norman just attacked me," said Petcka, 37, who demonstrated how he gently swatted the feline away. "I was, like, 'Hello, I've just been attacked by your cat.'"

Petcka said he washed his hands and stanched a cut on his hand, but the orange-and-white long hair attacked him again on March 27, 2007.

"Norman came and lunged at me, throwing me on my butt on the coffee table," Petcka said. "Norman was biting into my hand."

RELATED: EX-MET PROSPECT SAYS IT WAS SELF-DEFENSE

Responding to questions from his lawyer, Petcka admitted he kicked the cat "hard." He denied intending to hurt the cat, who he said hissed at him regularly.

Petcka, 37, who has appeared on "Sex and the City" and played minor league baseball for the Mets, faces up to two years in prison in the felony animal cruelty case. His claims clashed with a veterinarian who testified the cat was brutally beaten, then crawled into his favorite hiding spot to die.

RELATED: GALLERY: TRIAL EVIDENCE

Dr. Robert Reisman, the ASPCA's top animal cruelty investigator, said Norman died an agonizing death after possibly being whacked against a countertop

"The easiest way to cause those injuries would be to control the cat and hit its face on a hard surface," Reisman said. The animal doc said Norman's horrific injuries were similar to those caused when a pet tumbles out a window or gets hit by a car.

He compared the blows inflicted on the cat with a soccer kick and rejected Petcka's claim he "swatted" the cat in self-defense. "This is kicking it at a goal," Reisman said. "This was not pushing it away."

Norman suffered three broken ribs, a ripped lung and liver, chipped teeth and torn tongue.

He likely survived for up to 15 minutes following the initial attack, and could have dragged his crumpled body into a bedroom where he was found.

The cat died when blood filled his chest, Reisman said.

Altobelli testified Petcka despised Norman while they dated for several weeks. Petcka said he never got along with the tabby: "We kept our distance," he said.

Altobelli, a Sports Illustrated reporter, said she left her short-fused beau in her apartment after a nasty booze-fueled quarrel.

She later found her beloved cat lying dead in its favorite hiding spot beneath her bedside table.

"That's what cats do," Reisman said. "They hide."

bross

 

 

 

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