A 54-year-old man was charged with animal cruelty and arson after allegedly killing more than 50 head of cattle and setting fire to a house.
Chester Gigliuto of Homer was charged with 52 counts of overworking, torturing or injuring animals, a misdemeanor under state Agriculture and Markets Law, for killing the animals, police said.
Gigliuto was arraigned Sunday night in Cortlandville Town Court and was being held in the county jail with no bail set. More charges are expected, authorities said.
According to Sgt. Mark Helms of the Cortland County Sheriff's Department, Gigliuto killed the cattle on Sunday in a barn before the fire. Gigliuto was in his pickup truck a short distance from the fire scene near the edge of the property when fire and police officials arrived and was very cooperative, Helms told the Cortland Standard.
Police said they found all but one of the cows inside the barn, shot to death at close range with a .22-caliber rifle. Helms said Gigliuto told police that he was having financial difficulties. Case UpdatesA jury on Friday convicted Chester Gigliuto of felony third-degree arson, misdemeanor second-degree reckless endangerment and 53 counts of animal cruelty.
Gigliuto burned down a house he owned in Homer and shot his herd of 53 dairy cows -- killing all but one -- on June 15. During the thre-day trial in Cortland County Court, Gigliuto testified that financial stress and ongoing argument with his exwife, Dawn Gigliuto, prompted him to destroy everything he owned so he would not have to pay her $15,000 he owed in child support.
Following the verdict, Dawn Gigliuto said her ex-husband's testimony unfairly painted her as an "evil woman".
"What he testified to and the whole truth are two different stories, " she said speaking from her Homer home Friday evening. "I didn't want to ruin this man."
Chester Gigliuto took the witness stand Trhusday and told jurors in his three-hour testimony how he intentioally destroyed his livlihood, his property and all his possessions with a .22-calibre rifle, diesel fuel and a propane torech.
Gigliuto said he was in debt on June 15, Father's Day. He had refinanced his 319-acre farm on Houghton Hill Road in Homer. He was 'losing money on his milk production and he owed $15,000 in child support. A letter from his creditors had come in the mail the previous week, announcing they would repossess his truck. Gigliuto was convince he would lose everything.
At about 10 a.m., Gigliuto took his single-shot, bolt-action .22-caliber rifle to the barn he was renting 2 1/2 miles south of his farmhouse on Houghton Hill Road. Gigliuto turned on the vacuum pump in the barn so that passerby would not hear him shoot each of his 53 cows in the head with the rifle. One cow suvived the shooting.
During his testimony, Gigliuto described the cows as his "babies" and said, "the hardest thing I ever done was shoot them cows."
In his closing statements, Distrit Attorney David Hartnett told jurors, "He (Gigliuto) said the only difference between killing the cows and selling the cows was that his wife wouldn't get the money. That's not justified."
The jury agreed with Hartnett and found Gigliuto guilty on all 53 misdeamnor counts of overdriging, torturing or injuring domestic animals.
With his herd dead, Gigliuto drove up to his farmhouse at 242 Houghton Hill Road in Homer.
Gigliuto's stepson, Joe Lavancha lived in the house wiht his fiance, Michele Croghan, and his friend Robert Keegan. All three testified that Gigliuto had mentioned his desire to burn down the farmhouse, and they were in the process of moving out but still had possessions in the house.
Gigliuto made sure there was no one in the farmhouse. He chased cats out of the upstairs apartments and dumped diesel fuel over everything inside and outsie the house.
Gigliuto used a hand-held propane torch to ignite the fuel, walked out of the house and threw the propane torch back in the burning fire.
Gigliuto was indicted on three additional felonies for starting the fire: first-degree burglary, second-degree burglary and second-degree criminal mischief. After about six hours of deliberation, the jury found Gigliuto not guilty on those counts.
"We're very happy that he was not found guilty of the violent felonies," said Gigliuto's defense attorney Cortland County Public DEfener Keith Dayton. "This is certainly a case here he didn't want to hurt any people."
Dayton said his client would appeal the other convictions.
After starting the blaze, Gigliuto drove his truck across the street and watched the farmhouse he and Dawn Gigliuto bought togehter 12 years ago erupt in flames.
"His farm was everything )to Chester Gigliuto)," Dawn Gigliuto said. "What really urts me is that somebody has that much hate towards me."
When firefighters and Cortland County Sheriff's Officers arrived outsie the burning farmhouse, Gigliuto was still in his truck watching the house burn. He told Sheriff's officers that he lit the fire, there was no one in the house and that they would find a barn full of dead cows down the road.
The fire spread quickly through the fuel-drenched farmhouse. Volunteer firefighters from Homer and surrounding departments surrounded the firae and dumped more than six tanker trucks worth of water on the flames. The roof caved in and the house collapsed outward.
Homer Fire Chief John Ryan told jurors on Wednesday, "These are the fires that firefighters die in."
gigliuto was convicted of reckless endangerment for risking the safety of emergency personnel.
Gigliuto is expected to appear April 15 before County Court Judge Julie campbell for sentencing.
"The defendant apparently wanted his day in court." Hartnett told the jury during his closing statements Friday morning. "He got his day in court."
Source: The Cortland Standard Newspaper from March 20, 2004 | | Update posted on Mar 29, 2004 - 11:17AM |
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