A "Sex and the City" actor's claim that he killed his girlfriend's cat
in self-defense suffered a blow Wednesday with revelations that
the tabby was declawed.
Joseph Petcka, who is on trial on charges of felony cruelty,
claims he was being attacked by the 7-pound pussy named
Norman when he pummeled the animal to death.
Norman's heartbroken owner, Lisa Altobelli, told a
Manhattan Supreme Court jury a far different story Wednesday,
describing Petcka's jealous rage toward the creature.
READ MORE: 'YOU LOVE THAT CAT MORE THAN YOU LOVE ME!'
Weeping on the witness stand, she recounted finding her beloved
pet's battered body under a bedside table after a quarrel with Petcka
on the night of March 27, 2007. "He was dead," Altobelli said. "I put
my hand there. He was cold and stiff."
She picked up the phone and called Petcka, 37, a handsome bit-part
actor with a short fuse who once played minor league baseball for the Mets.
"What kind of monster could kill an innocent cat?" she remembered
asking him. He just hung up, she said.
Altobelli said she previously had sensed something was amiss
between her boyfriend and cat, which she testified had been
declawed.
She described an earlier incident that happened after she had
been dating Petcka - who once appeared on "Sex and the City"
and in Brawny paper towel ads - for several weeks.
She returned to her Tribeca apartment to find the gentle,
orange-and-white cat terrified and soaking wet.
"He was hissing [at Petcka]," Altobelli, a Sports Illustrated
writer testified. "Obviously, that was a huge red flag."
On the night Norman was killed, Petcka had been drinking
heavily and the couple began quarreling, she said. "You love
Norman more than me!" Petcka exclaimed, Altobelli testified.
She went to sleep and recalled hearing Petcka talking to the
cat in a singsong voice, "Norman, Norman, Norman."
Altobelli said she abruptly woke up after Petcka kneed her
in the side and grabbed her neck. He claimed the cat had
bitten him.
She took her purse and ran out of the apartment after
warning Petcka to leave or she would call the police, Altobelli said.
The last thing she saw, she said, was Norman looking plaintively
at her. "I honestly thought he [the cat] would be right behind me,"
she said. "I thought he would flee."
An ASPCA official is expected to testify Thursday that the cat
died from an extensive beating that caused broken ribs and
massive internal injuries.
Petcka, who faces two years in prison if convicted, also is
expected to take the stand.
Please call Leila Kermani, the Assistant District Attorney
in charge of prosecuting this case, and ask for full prosection;
(212) 335 - 9000
See also our petition for Andrea Peyser, a New York Post
columnist who wrote an article about this case entitled,
"Felonious Ball of Fur Deserved Every Blow," ....and calls
the prosecution of the catkiller a "waste of time and tax-
payers money."
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ny-post-columist-says-beaten-cat-deserved-to-die
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