Gerlale Witcher, 19, was sentenced to 6 months in jail today for the assault that killed his girlfriend’s kitten last month.
Police responded to a domestic assault call on October 25 and came to the Westwood, Ohio apartment of Witcher’s pregnant girlfriend, who he had reportedly assaulted. When Cincinnati police officer Cincinnati Kelly Reindl arrived on the scene she found the kitten, dead and thrown outside of the apartment building. The kitten died after being held by the tail and smashed against a cement wall.
Witcher was charged with domestic violence, cruelty to animals, obstructing official business, disorderly conduct and criminal damaging.
The defendant spoke on his own behalf before Judge Brad Greenberg in Hamilton County Municipal Court today, making excuses for his behavior and asking for help and for mercy. Witcher claimed not to be violent, not to have enjoyed the attack, and to have had a bad reaction after being scratched by the kitten. He told the judge the assault was not done on purpose, he still had scratches, and, when asked what he had done to the kitten, said he had been trying to remove it from his arm. The judge disagreed with the assertion that the act was not done purposely and called Witcher’s assault on the defenseless kitten “an act of incredible cruelty.”
Witcher’s attorney claimed his client had mental issues after a 2010 car crash that injured his brain.
The judge had no sympathy and handed down the maximum sentence allowed under the law. Witcher received 6 months imprisonment on the cruelty to animals charge, and is not allowed to own an animal for the next 15 years. He also got 60 days for giving a false name to officers at the time of his arrest.
He will not be punished for the domestic violence charge, which was dropped after the girlfriend twice failed to appear in court for the case.
Officer Reindl expressed regret that she had not known about the kitten sooner, in case it could have been saved.
The video shows Witcher making his soft spoken appeal to the judge.
Photo, The Enquirer/Kimball Perry
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Amen to that…put him in jail for 10 yrs with the very worst animals on earth….the HUMAN kind