Peter Galantino of Hempstead gets 2 weeks in jail for fatally kicking Yorkie

A Hempstead man convicted of fatally kicking a 4-pound Yorkie during an argument with the dog’s owners will spend 2 weeks behind bars but avoid a felony conviction, a judge ordered at a Thursday sentencing.

A Nassau County jury convicted Peter Galantino, 63, in January of aggravated animal cruelty, which can carry a maximum 2-year sentence, as well as misdemeanor animal cruelty and disorderly conduct for kicking the 9-year-old Yorkshire terrier Mocha during an argument with Elizabeth Joyce and retired NYPD K-9 trainer James Joyce, formerly of Hempstead.

State Supreme Court Justice Howard Sturim set aside the felony conviction in May.

The case stems from a confrontation between neighbors on March 14, 2020, during the early days of COVID-19 lockdowns and social distancing.

Galantino, a businessman who runs a Long Island indoor soccer league, said he was out for a walk when his golden doodle, Louie, relieved himself. That is when the Joyces approached him and demanded that he pick it up.

When he refused, the argument escalated into a screaming match between dog owners. Elizabeth Joyce, who had been walking Mocha, testified Louie jumped up on her leg during the fray and that when she brushed the dog off, Galantino became enraged.

"You kicked my dog, now I’m going to kick your dog," Elizabeth Joyce testified Galantino said.

The Joyces said the kick launched Mocha so high that the dog cleared the overhead utility lines.

Galantino admitted kicking the dog, but said that it was only a couple feet. He testified he feared the couple and their second dog, a German shepherd named Aoife.

Mocha was rushed to the West Hempstead Animal Hospital, where the dog was administered CPR. A necropsy performed at the Cornell University College of Veterinary Medicine found  Mocha suffered several broken ribs, a fractured skull and a ruptured liver.

"The violent death of our dog Mocha due to the defendant’s heinous, despicable and intentional acts has left our family sad, frightened and heartbroken," the Joyces said in a statement read by the prosecutor in court.

They said that they moved from the neighborhood and continue to live with the grief of losing the pet.

The defense attorney said it was the resuscitation effort that harmed the pet, not the kick.

Galantino, while apologizing for his actions, also placed part of the blame with the couple.

"I was walking my dog, minding my own business and the [Joyces] ran me down, stalked me and attacked me," he told the judge.

In addition to the 2-week sentence, the judge ordered Galantino to pay a fine of $519.75.

Prosecutors sought a sentence of a year in jail for each of the two misdemeanor convictions, to run consecutively, and asked the judge to bar Galantino from keeping pet dogs for 20 years.

Sturim denied the request to ban Galantino from having animals.

"I don’t believe that Mr. Galantino is an animal abuser and I don’t believe that he is a flight risk," Sturim said.

In May, Sturim set aside the jury’s verdict on aggravated animal cruelty, siding with defense attorneys Susan and John Carman, who argued in a post-conviction motion that a single kick did not reach the severity to be a felony crime.

Additionally, Nassau County prosecutors argued the judge had misinterpreted case law and asked him to reconsider. He declined their motion last week. The district attorney has promised to appeal the decision on the verdict.

"This decision will make no one happy," the judge said of the sentence. "I don’t have the ability to bring Mocha back. I don’t have the ability to undo the harm. The harm has already been done."

CORRECTION: The jail sentence that prosecutors sought for Galantino was incorrect in a previous version of this story.