Nassau County judge sets aside guilty animal cruelty verdict against Peter Galantino in death of 9-year-old Yorkie

A Nassau County judge set aside the verdict against the owner of a Long Island soccer league found guilty of killing Mocha, a 4-pound Yorkie, during an argument with the dog’s owner, who said he failed to curb his Goldendoodle.

Peter Galantino, 63, of Hempstead, was convicted in January of aggravated animal cruelty, misdemeanor animal torture and criminal mischief for causing the teacup dog’s death during a neighborhood disagreement that escalated into a screaming match with Mocha’s owner, Elizabeth Joyce.

The dispute erupted in the early days of the pandemic on March 14, 2020, when Joyce and her husband, James, a retired NYPD K9 trainer, testified they saw Galantino’s dog, Louie, squat on a neighbor’s lawn in the Cathedral Gardens section of the township, according to testimony.

The couple hurried after him with their German shepherd, Aoife, and Mocha.

When confronted, Galantino refused to pick up the dog poop, prompting the argument.

“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.' "

During a heated exchange, the Goldendoodle jumped up on Elizabeth Joyce, prompting her to shake the dog off her leg, she said.

Galantino interpreted that as an act of aggression, prompting him to kick Mocha.

Galantino does not dispute kicking the dog, but the parties disagree on how high and far the pet flew.

“I saw something soaring through the air and I realized that it was Mocha,” James Joyce told the jury. His wife said the dog cleared the telephone wire overhead.

Galantino took the stand in his defense, saying the German shepherd intimidated him.

“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.”

After the conviction, defense lawyer Susan Carman asked presiding Supreme Court Justice Howard Sturim, whose Irish doodle support dog, Barney, accompanies him at the bench, to set aside the verdict because one kick does not meet the legal definition of aggravated animal cruelty.

The judge agreed.

“While there was conflicting testimony from the complainants and the defendant regarding how far the dog traveled after it was struck ... it is undisputed that the defendant kicked the dog once and it died as a result of the injuries sustained from the single kick which caused it to go airborne, and its subsequent contact with the pavement when it landed,” the judge wrote in his decision. “The question is, based upon the prevailing case law and the evidence at trial, were the defendant's actions sadistic, depraved, or heinous, or were they intended to cause extreme physical pain to the animal.”

The judge ruled the facts presented at trial were “not legally sufficient to establish the felony offense.”

Galantino will be sentenced on the remaining misdemeanor charges.

“We are grateful for the Court’s careful analysis of the facts and the law,” Carman said. “The trial process can be driven off course by real and heartfelt emotion, as it was here. When this happens, it is the Judge’s obligation to make sure that reason governs and that justice is served.”

The Nassau County District Attorney's Office is weighing an appeal.

The Joyces did not respond to a request for comment.