Peter Galantino of Hempstead 'acted sadistically' when he fatally kicked 4-pound Yorkie, attorney says

A Hempstead man who admitted he kicked a 4-pound Yorkie during a fight with the dog’s owners after he failed to curb his own dog “acted sadistically” out of anger over being told what to do, a prosecutor told the jury on Wednesday during closing arguments in his trial in Nassau County Court.

Peter Galantino, 62, who runs a Long Island indoor soccer league, faces criminal mischief, aggravated animal cruelty and animal torture charges stemming from a March 2020 neighborhood squabble during a leisurely dog walk that escalated into a screaming match between dog owners over some errant dog poop that ended with the death of the miniature canine.

Elizabeth and James Joyce, a retired NYPD K9 trainer and current Hempstead Fire Department chief, testified that they were out with their dogs, Mocha, a 9-year-old Yorkie, and Aoife, a German shepherd, in the Cathedral Gardens section of the township on March 14, 2020 when they saw Galantino’s dog, a goldendoodle named Louie, squat on a neighbor’s lawn.

When they saw that Galantino failed to pick up after his dog, they hurried after him, calling out to him to do so, according to their testimony.

“Hey, your dog just pooped right over here,” James Joyce told the jury during direct testimony. “I said, ‘Come on back and look. Come clean it up.’ ”

Galantino, who also took the stand during his trial, said that on the day he’s accused of killing the dog, he did not realize the couple was trying to get his attention. 

The argument escalated, according to both parties, and the husband moved the German shepherd away from the disagreement.

When Elizabeth Joyce, who was carrying the Yorkie, confronted Galantino face-to-face, his goldendoodle jumped up on her leg, prompting her to shake the dog off and drop Mocha.

In response, the couple told the court, Galantino told her, “You kicked my dog, now I’m going to kick your dog.”

She said the force of his kick launched her dog over a telephone line and into a neighbor’s driveway, 40 feet away.

“I saw something soaring through the air and I realized that it was Mocha,” James Joyce told the jury.

His wife rushed the dog to the West Hempstead Animal Hospital where they tried to administer CPR. The pet went in and out of consciousness until it finally died. A necropsy report performed at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine found that the cause of death was several broken several ribs, a fractured skull and ruptured liver.

Galantino admitted during his tearful testimony on Tuesday that he had kicked the dog, but said it went just 2 feet in the air and it had landed a few feet away.

“What I did was to defend myself with no intention to hurt the dog,” he said on the stand. “I never intended to hurt their dog, let alone kill their dog.”

The prosecutor asked him how someone his size could fear a 4-pound dog, and he said that the interaction was overwhelming.

“I wasn’t upset. I was afraid,” he said. “They were strangers who I didn’t know yelling at me. The man who was a good deal taller than me had a German shepherd who was ferocious and it was growling at me.”

Galantino’s legal team of Susan and John Carman, who have represented convicted former Nassau County Executive Edward Mangano and former Trump adviser Steve Bannon, sought to characterize the Joyces as a busybody couple.

“They’d become the poop vigilantes of Hempstead,” Susan Carman said. “That’s what instigated this entire thing.”

Elizabeth Joyce said that her friend, prominent Democratic attorney Steve Schlesinger, had joined her during meetings with the former Nassau District Attorney as the case dragged on over four years, but said she had not retained him. 

The defense lawyers argued that the whiplash caused by the dog’s leash being held by Joyce as the dog left the ground led to its death.

Assistant District Attorney Kathleen Hurley urged the jury to reject that scenario, calling Galantino “sadistic” and “vicious.”

“This defendant was sadistic in choosing to kick Mocha so viciously. He chose not to pick on someone his own size, that’s sadistic, he chose the most defenseless target to act out on,” she said.

Jury deliberations started around noon and will continue Thursday.