Sep 29 2008 11:44 AM
The original thread here: http://archives.cranepoolforum.net/6100/f1_t6165.shtml
Update:
Prosecutors consider retrial in cat-killing case
NEW YORK (AP) -- New York City prosecutors say they're considering a retrial for the former minor league pitcher and actor who killed his girlfriend's cat.
Norman the cat died of massive internal injuries and suffered broken ribs and teeth.Manhattan jurors deadlocked 11-1 on Friday at the aggravated animal cruelty trial for Joseph Petcka.
Petcka says he didn't mean to hurt Norman the cat. He said he overreacted when the cat bit him.
The former Mets minor leaguer and "Sex in the City" actor said on NBC's "Today" show he's grateful for the lone juror who believed he didn't act intentionally.
The jury deadlocked Friday, after five days of deliberations.
Prosecutor Leila Kermani portrayed Petcka as "washed up," saying in closing arguments that he had "zero income and no prospects" last year when he became jealous and killed the cat.
Petcka, who pitched in the New York Mets' minor league system in 1992, was a "washed-up, never-made-it-to-the-big-leagues athlete" and a "D-minus" actor, she said.
Kermani has told jurors that Petcka brutally killed the neutered and declawed cat after complaining that his girlfriend at the time, Lisa Altobelli, loved the cat more than him.
Petcka testified that he was defending himself after the 8-pound orange and white tabby bit his right hand and drew blood. He said Norman lunged at him with his paws outstretched and "his teeth were bared."
His attorney, Charles Hochbaum, argued that the animal cruelty law applies only in cases where animals are intentionally tortured with a sadistic intent to injure or kill.
Altobelli said she dated Petcka for about six weeks before he killed her cat. She said they quarreled after going out the evening of March 26, 2007, and he drank heavily.
Altobelli, a Sports Illustrated reporter, testified that Petcka woke her to complain Norman had bitten him. They argued and she went out, she said, and when she returned Petcka was gone and Norman was dead.
Petcka also appeared in a paper towel commercial and had small roles in "Sex and the City" and other television shows. He more recently worked as a bartender and waiter.
If convicted, Petkca could have received up to two years in prison.