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Case #1973 Rating: 2.5 out of 5
Cat doused with lighter fluid, set on fire
Levittown, PA (US)Incident Date: Sunday, Dec 14, 2003
County: Bucks
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Daniel H. Culligan
Case Updates: 4 update(s) available
A Bucks County man who police said doused his son's new cat with charcoal lighter and set it ablaze has successfully petitioned a judge to allow him to keep another kitten he has at home.
Police said that Daniel Culligan, 28, sprayed charcoal lighter on the cat's back and touched it with a cigarette lighter because he said he was "frustrated" that the animal had defecated on the floor and scratched his son. He then tossed the 9-month-old female tabby over the deck outside his apartment and turned his back as the cat ran away, according to police.
Arrest papers stated that Culligan denied he harmed the cat but also told Bristol Township Detectives Timothy Fuhrmann and Greg Beidler, "What's the big deal? Everyone has hurt cats or squirrels."
He was charged with arson, a felony, and animal cruelty, a misdemeanor. He surrendered to Bristol Township police on Friday and was released on $100,000 bond.
Some animal advocates were upset that District Justice Joanne Kline, though calling the Dec. 14 crime "horrendous," changed her initial ruling that prohibited Culligan from having any contact with animals.
"Your honor, I actually have a kitten at home," Culligan said at his hearing.
"Not anymore you don't," Kline replied. But Culligan's father implored the judge to change her mind, saying that his granddaughter would be heartbroken and promising that "nothing will happen to that cat."
The injured animal, which had burns over more than 90 percent of its body, including its nasal passages, paws and one eye, was rushed by a neighbor to the Animal Emergency Center in Langhorne. It had to be euthanized.
Another neighbor had given the cat, which was named Chica, to Culligan just days before it was burned, authorities said.
Anne Irwin and Kathy Myron of the Bucks County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals were upset by the judge's decision, but Kline assured them she would revisit the issue at Culligan's preliminary hearing.
Case UpdatesA Bucks County judge Thursday rejected a Bristol Township man's plea for probation and sentenced him to six to 23 months in prison for setting a cat on fire.
Daniel Culligan, 28, also must serve two years of probation after he's released from the county jail. Judge David Heckler ordered him to pay a $1,000 fine and complete 40 hours of community service.
Culligan, a father of two, pleaded guilty in June to arson and cruelty to animals. He admitted spraying the 9-month-old cat, "Chica," with lighter fluid, igniting the fluid with a match and throwing the burning animal off a second-story balcony.
The cat, its fur ablaze, ran blindly into the screen door of an adjacent apartment. The residents put out the fire and rushed the kitten to a veterinarian, but the animal could not be saved and had to be euthanized.
A tipster led police to Culligan in January. During questioning, police records say Culligan asked the officers, "What's the big deal? Everyone has hurt cats or squirrels."
When he pleaded guilty, Culligan, through his lawyer, offered to do community service at an animal shelter to atone for his actions.
Anne Irwin, executive director of the county SPCA, said she had mixed feelings about that, but noted Culligan could serve in a capacity that didn't put him in direct contact with animals - a clerical job, for example.
Heckler ruled that Culligan must complete an anger-management class and a decision-making course during his sentence, and pay $222 to the veterinarian who treated and ultimately euthanized Chica.
The judge ruled, Culligan, a machinist, will be allowed to seek work-release privileges. | Source: phillyburbs.com
Update posted on Aug 28, 2004 - 8:53AM |
| Daniel Culligan, 28, whose Dec. 13, 2003 torching of Chica the tabby, will be sentenced after undergoing a psychological evaluation. No sentencing date has been set. He could get up to five years in prison. | | Update posted on Jun 5, 2004 - 2:34PM |
To urge the prosecutor to push for the maximum sentence under Pennsylvania law, send a letter to:
District Attorney Dianne Gibbons
Bucks County Administration Building
55 East Court Street
Doylestown, PA 18901
215-348-6344
Distict Justice Joanne V. Kline
3030 Bath Road
Bristol, PA 19076
215-788-5561
Deputy District Attorney Jennifer Buck
Bucks County Administration Building
55 East Court Street
Doylestown, PA 18901
215-348-6351 | | Update posted on Mar 28, 2004 - 1:51PM |
Man who ignited cat can't keep pet after all -
A man accused of setting a 9-month-old cat on fire will not be allowed to keep a second kitten he got for his son, a district justice in Bucks County said yesterday, drawing cheers and applause from dozens of animal-lovers who filled the courtroom.
District Justice Joanne V. Kline amended a bail order for Daniel H. Culligan, 28, of Bristol Township, forbidding him to have any contact with animals until he is tried.
Culligan admitted that on Dec. 14 he sprayed his cat with charcoal starter fluid, set it on fire, and threw it over the balcony because it had defecated on the floor and in his dirty clothes, Bristol Township police say.
A neighbor took the cat, burned over 90 percent of its body, to an emergency animal clinic, where it was euthanized.
At Culligan's arraignment Jan. 2004, Kline did not order him to turn over a second kitten he had brought home for his 3-year-old, a decision that evoked angry calls, e-mails and letters from as far away as Liverpool, England.
"They were very upset," said Kline, who wouldn't say how many people had contacted her about the case. One caller said she planned to hire a lawyer to force Culligan to turn over the cat. "It was really for the trauma of the child," Kline said.
Jeannine Collings, Culligan's next-door neighbor, said she has been "devastated" since she learned of the cat's killing because she is the one who gave the cat, whom the family called "Chica," to Culligan.
About 50 people attended Culligan's preliminary hearing yesterday, carrying signs reading, "Cat Killer Hearing" and "Animal Abuse is a Serious Crime."
Observers in the courtroom gasped as Bristol Township Detective Tim Fuhrmann related how Culligan allegedly set the cat on fire and then "just threw it off the deck," not bothering to look where it went.
Elaine Perez, a clinician at the Animal Emergency and Critical Care Service in Langhorne, described how the cat was blackened from "the tip of its nose to the tip of its tail" when it arrived at the clinic around 12:30 p.m. on Dec. 14. "It was howling and trying to bite, which is common for an animal in extreme pain," Perez said.
Kevin Burns, Culligan's neighbor at the Brittney Springs Apartments, took the cat to the clinic after the frantic animal ran into his screen door and set the door on fire. Burns told the court he sprayed the cat with a fire extinguisher while another neighbor doused it with water.
Culligan, who did not testify at the hearing, will be arraigned April 2, 2004, on charges of arson, a felony, and cruelty to animals, a misdemeanor in the first degree.
Aside from charges of dog-fighting or killing an exotic zoo animal, the animal-cruelty charges against Culligan are the highest possible in Pennsylvania, said Anne Irwin, director of the Bucks County Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, which has filed the charge jointly with Bristol Township.
Irwin said workers from the SPCA planned to pick up the other kitten immediately and put it up for adoption. | | Update posted on Mar 6, 2004 - 7:06AM |
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