CONVICTED: Was justice served?
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Case #9935 Rating: 2.8 out of 5
Cat stolen, strangled
Boston, MA (US)Incident Date: Tuesday, Sep 12, 2006
County: Suffolk
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Joseph Cavaleri
A 22-year-old South Boston man got a year in jail for cruelly stealing and strangling a cat a lonely 73-year-old called his "only companion" in an emotional victim-impact statement.
Testifying in Boston Municipal Court, Joseph Stanowski, 73, said he had lost 25 pounds, had trouble sleeping and was taking medication for depression since the September killing of his "Baby Doll."
"She was a wonderful and loyal little cat," said Stanowski, a former police officer from Brazil who is now a Mormon priest.
"This defendant . . . has committed an evil and indescribable act against an innocent animal."
Joseph Cavaleri, 22, of 33 Story St. was sentenced Oct 31 to a year in jail and ordered to pay $300 restitution after pleading guilty to wandering into Stanowski's building on Sept. 12 and stealing and killing his cat.
Shortly before 10 that night, officers Kenneth Conley and Daniel MacDonald spotted Cavaleri, a cook at a Cambridge restaurant, standing between two planters at Holyoke and Carleton streets.
When Cavaleri saw them, he ran off, tossing Baby Doll and his jacket in some bushes, according to court records.
The cat was still warm but not breathing when officers found it lying on its back with blood coming from its mouth. On the ground next to it was a black-and-blue jacket covered with blood and fur.
When the officers caught up with Cavaleri at St. Botolph and Harcourt streets, he told them his name was John Nolan and he had just been "playing" with the cat.
By then, a police dispatcher had alerted the officers that Stanowski had called 911 and reported that a man had stolen his cat.
Stanowski said he found little solace in Cavaleri's sentence.
"One year is nothing," he said. "This guy can kill a person." References« MA State Animal Cruelty Map
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