Humane Long Island protests dog kicker's two-week jail sentence

A Hempstead man convicted of fatally kicking a Yorkshire Terrier will only be sentenced to two weeks in prison. Animal rights activists are not happy about this.

Peter Galantino, 63, was found guilty of aggravated animal cruelty in Nassau County court in January. New York State Supreme Court Judge Howard Sturim in May overturned the felony conviction and replaced it with two misdemeanor convictions. Galantino must spend two weeks in jail and pay a fine, Sturim ruled Thursday.

Galantino had an altercation with neighbors Elizabeth Joyce and James Joyce in March 2020 while walking his dog – a golden retriever named Louie – when Galantino apparently refused to clean up his dog's droppings. During the altercation, Elizabeth Joyce said, Louie jumped up on her and she turned the dog away. In revenge, Galantino kicked Joyce's dog, a 4-pound Yorkshire terrier named Mocha, so high that he touched power lines. Mocha suffered broken ribs, a fractured skull and a lacerated liver and was later euthanized.

Humane Long Island, an animal rights group, gathered outside the courthouse to protest the verdict.

“This is an extreme miscarriage of justice,” John DiLeonardo, the group’s executive director, told the Press. “Not only should he not have expunged the crime that the jury agreed on, but he should have been sentenced to 14 days in jail for the murder of this animal that was dear to this family. He was not even remanded in custody today. He has a week left. He will go to the judge, serve 14 days and then be back on the streets. So these family members are afraid for their safety and I am afraid for the safety of the two dogs that were left in the care of this defendant.”

The Joyces have since moved away from the neighborhood where the incident occurred.

“He's an angry, angry man, and if he's going to do that to a little dog, what would he do to somebody else, a human, a child? I don't understand the judge's logic,” said Jerelyn Kirby, a longtime friend of the Joyces who attended the rally. “They had the dog for nine years, the sweetest little dog you could imagine, and they loved him.”