Joseph Petcka, whose trial for animal cruelty ended in a mistrial, has been making the rounds with the media to work on his image. He appeared on the Today Show and Inside Edition, where he said, "I hope there's something I can do in this lifetime that will make them see that I'm a person that loves animals." Petcka, a 205-pound former minor league player in the Mets farm system and now aspiring actor, kicked......

After a judge declared a mistrial in the the animal cruelty case of a 205-pound man who killed a 7-pound cat, some of the jurors explained what happened during deliberations. The Post reported that "exhausted-looking" Shamsul Islam, Juror No. 11, said, "It was 11 to 1." Joseph Petcka had claimed his girlfriend's declawed cat Norman attacked him, so he defended himself by kicking the animal. But the prosecutors pointed to the extent of the cat's......

After five days of deliberations, the jurors in the animal cruelty trial of a man who killed his girlfriend's cat could not reach a verdict, so the judge ended the trial by declaring a hung jury. Joseph Petcka, 205 pounds, claimed that 7-pound, declawed cat Norman attacked him so he defended himself, but the prosecution contended that Petcka was jealous of the cat. The feline was fatally beaten and had multiple broken bones, broken teeth,......

The jury deciding the fate of Joseph Petcka, on trial for animal cruelty after he killed his girlfriend's declawed cat, is still at work after three days of deliberations and claims it was deadlocked. According to the Post, one juror told the judge he was "being 'coerced' by the other jurors," but after the meeting, " the jurors requested an easel, a "flip chart," colored markers and a roll of tape, ready to dig in......

Jurors deliberating the animal cruelty case where Joseph Petcka is on trial for killing a domestic cat named Norman are deadlocked, according to the AP. "Manhattan jurors sent the state Supreme Court judge a note Tuesday, saying they are at an impasse after two days of deliberations," but the judge "ordered the jury to return" tomorrow morning. Petcka, 205 pounds, had been using a victim defense, claiming the 7-pound, declawed cat attacked him. His lawyer......

In her closing arguments yesterday, prosecutor Leila Kermani told jurors that alleged cat killer Joseph Petcka, a retired minor league baseball player and sometime actor, is just a "washed-up, never-made-it-to-the-big-leagues athlete" and a "D-minus" actor. On Friday the 6'2" Petcka testified that Norman, the name of his then-girlfriend's 7-pound neutered and de-clawed tabby, "came and lunged at me, throwing me on my butt on the coffee table. Norman was biting into my hand." While he......

NY Post columnist Andrea Peyser interviewed Joseph Petcka--the 205-pound man on trial for animal cruelty after kicking his girlfriend's 7-pound cat to death (the cat had a broken leg, three broken ribs, broken teeth, and a lacerated tongue, plus a chest full of blood). She finds him "uncomplicated" and writes his "life devolved into tragi-comedy" because of the incident. Petcka tells Norman the cat, via Peyser, "I apologize, and I'm very sorry - I'm so......

Joseph Petcka, on trial for animal cruelty after fatally beating his girlfriend's cat, claimed self-defense, saying the 7 pound cat attacked him during his testimony. He told the jury, "He was coming at my legs." Keep in mind that Petcka is 205 pounds and 6'2". Petcka and Lisa Altobelli had gotten into a fight last year, with Petcka yelling, "You love that cat more than me." Altobelli fled the apartment after Petcka allegedly grabbed her......

A prosecutor from the Mahattan DA's office called a man who killed his girlfriend's cat "an angry, jealous, drunken bully" during during opening arguments. Joseph Petcka, a 205-pound former Mets draft prospect and actor, is on trial for animal cruelty after he brutally beat an 8-pound domestic, declawed tabby. Petcka's lawyer argued that the cat, Norman, actually bit his client's hand, making Petcka's reaction justified. However, Petcka's then girlfriend Lisa Altobelli testified that she once......

Last year, 205-pound Joseph Petcka was accused of killing his girlfriend's cat in a jealous rage. He faces charges of aggravated cruelty to animals and harassment (of his then girlfriend). Petcka left her apartment, allegedly yelling, "You love that cat more than you love me," but returned to confront 7-pound domestic cat Norman. The cat's body was later discovered with "a broken leg, three broken ribs, broken teeth, and a lacerated tongue. " It was......

A Shih Tzu named Zahara lost its life last September because a man was angry at his girlfriend and their relationship, and the authorities have finally caught up with him. WNBC reports that 27-year-old Sherman Haynes "threw his girlfriend's small dog out his third-floor window, killing the defenseless animal," yelling, "You need your dog?" to his girlfriend, 25-year-old Farah Benoit. The couple were at his East 93rd Street apartment in Brooklyn, where he also threw......

A goat from a Long Island family farm was found strangled to death with a belt after intruders broke into his pen with bolt cutters. The goat named Teddy was abducted for unknown reasons along with his twin sister Pinky. Teddy, a cream-colored 3-month-old, was found dead on the side of a nearby street with a belt tightened around his neck and his little blue collar still around his neck. The family who kept him......

A pigeon painted purple picked up on a playground may not pull through what appears to be a pitiless prank. The four month-old bird remains flightless in Animal Care and Control after being rescued Thursday in Long Island City. Animal lover Joe Mora picked up the pigeon and tried feeding it while asking the group that had gathered around the strangely-colored bird if anyone knew how to clean paint from its beak and feathers. The......

Lady Bunny is the latest to join the ranks of Team PETA, and has unveiled the organization's newest billboard, which features the drag queen (image here). Located at the intersection of Varick and Spring Streets, it encourages people to "kick the bucket" and states that "sometimes big bright packages contain dirty little secrets." The Lady coyly remarks that she doesn't "quite understand the slogan," but declares that "at least my fat country ass ain't selling......

A number of people who saw at least six dogs were left in a sweltering car--with the windows closed-- were so outraged that they, per WABC 7 Eyewitness News, "liberated the animals and then blasted their owner" on Saturday afternoon. Upper West Side residents claimed the dogs had been alone in the car for more than an hour, and, after watching the pups pant away, finally one person let the dogs out (it's unclear......

Astoria's Queensview Co-op is up against some wildlife advocates after hiring a nuisance wildlife control operator (NWCO) to trap and kill squirrels. The Empty Cages Collective is volunteer-run grassroots animal advocacy organization, and they want to put an end to what they deem an "ineffective attempt to manage the squirrel population." In one corner you have the Queensview Co-Op, who are claiming that the pesky squirrels are chewing wires on their vehicles and getting into......

Photo via Gowanus Lounge Curbed is reporting on the latest victim of luxury condos: Myrtle the Turtle. Who's behind the act of animal cruelty? All fingers are pointing to the construction workers, who have the same shade of red paint on site at 5 Roebling Street. A neighbor, and friend of Myrtle the Turtle, wrote in:It is obviously intentional because she got such a sustained spray that it has drip marks. The face and......

Even though Tom Otterness, who just installed his newest creation in DUMBO, cheers up commuting New Yorkers underground...he has a dark past that wouldn't make anyone smile. The artist, in short, shot a dog (that he adopted) for the sake of "art" -- something he did, and filmed, 20 years ago. He's apologized for the unforgivable act, but with each new piece he creates or installs -- it seems his past will always come back......

What is it about people who abuse their significant others' pets? A 24-year-old construction worker David Wrigley was charged with aggravated cruelty to animals after crushing and squeezing the cats. The cats, tabby Madeline and black cat Jynx, belonged to his girlfriend Sara Sabol, whose Selden, Long Island home Wrigley moved into at the beginning of the month. According to police lieutenant Michael Murphy, "The cats didn't take to him. They didn't like him, wouldn't......

The California based Westland/Hallmark Meat Company is recalling all its raw and frozen beef products distributed since Feb. 1, 2006 – a total of 143 million pounds of ground beef. The largest beef recall in history was announced after an undercover Humane Society video showed workers kicking sick cows, jabbing them in the eyes and using forklifts to force them to walk to slaughter. (See the video here.) Federal regulations require meat companies to keep......

It may have looked like simple joyriding on a Friday afternoon, but the Parks Dept. employee careening around Battery Park near Whitehall St. yesterday afternoon was actually a man on a mission, i.e. to kill as many birds in the park as possible. Martin Hightower has been a Parks Dept. employee since 2005, but was arrested after 911 started receiving calls about a man driving recklessly on a golf cart at the southern tip of......

A 23-year-old animal groomer in Brooklyn is facing charges of animal cruelty and could spend up to a year in jail if convicted. The charges stem from an experience Igor Kisil and his Burmese cat Nusha had with groomer Bechir Bejaoui of Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. Kisil says that when he went to pick up his small cat, who weighs only three pounds, she was returned to him in a carrying case covered with blood. Kisil......

Mets pitcher Pedro Martinez, as well as the Mets organization, made statements about the video of Martinez appearing at a cockfighting event in the Dominican Republic.From Pedro Martinez: "I understand that people are upset, but this is part of our Dominican culture and is legal in the Dominican Republic. I was invited by my idol Juan Marichal to attend the event as a spectator, not as a participant." From the Mets: "We do not......

Staten Island Ferry, by General Erin at Flickr Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: missing children on 12th Ave. in Brooklyn, an overturned tractor trailer on the eastbound BQE in Queens, and an armed robbery on West 42nd St. in Manhattan. The contraband room at JFK International: it's like a freegan's vision of heaven. The clock atop the former Williamsburgh Savings Bank Tower (now One Hanson Place) started ticking today at noon. A man was......

There's been a lot of noise lately about the horse-drawn carriage industry in New York. In early September it was announced that the city comptroller audited how well the city polices the carriage horse industry (surprise: not well!). This was almost immediately followed by the death of a horse who was apparently spooked by the drums of a nearby street musician. Now all eyes are the industry, and PETA is bringing the message to a......

On this very day 105 years ago Thomas Edison electrocuted an elephant meant to give rides and carry heavy items on Coney Island...all in the name of science! His science. He came to Coney to prove George Westinghouse and Nikola Tesla's alternating current (AC) was dangerous, whereas his competing direct current was completely safe. In fact, Edison was the one who convinced New York to use the dangerous and deadly AC for their electric chair.Edison......

In recent weeks both a man and a woman have been charged with senseless violence against small defenseless animals - the woman for beating her boyfriend's cat to death, the man seriously injuring a girlfriend's dog. Sarah Favorite is a 25-year-old woman who allegedly became angry at her boyfriend's Siamese cat Yoda. Annoyed by the animal, the young woman allegedly throttled the 17-year-old cat and repeatedly bashed it against the floor on November 29 and......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a ceiling collapse at Franklin Ave. and Union St. in Brooklyn, a pedestrian was fatally struck on Queens Blvd. in Woodhaven, Queens, and an unusual rescue on the south bound tower of the Throgs Neck Bridge in Queens. An undercover cop forgot to turn off the wire he was wearing while discussing 11 bags of cocaine he seized in a Brooklyn bust that were never turned in. He was......

The AP has this great photograph of a dog named Rocky at the Atlanta Humane Society. The Humane Society explained that Rocky had a #7 Michael Vick t-shirt because the society has been taking donated Vick clothing and using them as rags and bedding. Vick, the star quarterback for the Atlanta Falcons, pleaded guilty to federal conspiracy charges related to running a dogfighting ring at his Virginia home. Vick will appear in court on......

Today on the Gothamist Newsmap: a pedestrian struck at Richmond Terrace and Federal Place on Staten Island, a water rescue at Chambers St. and River Terrace off Manhattan, and a homicide at Bruner and Barnes Aves. in the Bronx. A Connecticut doctor lost his family yesterday after two men broke into his home and held them hostage, while one family member was taken to a nearby bank to withdraw money. After killing the man's......