Judge says prosecution failed to prove officer had intent to violate the law.
By: Leon Tovey
MONROE A Monroe Township animal control officer charged in November by state investigators with improperly killing an animal and failure to provide sustenance to an animal was found innocent in Jamesburg Municipal Court Tuesday.
Judge Michael A. Toto’s ruling was met with cheers from family members and friends of Animal Control Officer Frank Faraone, who was charged by the New Jersey Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals after he allegedly told technicians at the Sayrebrook Animal Hospital to euthanize a sick cat on Nov. 2.
The trial, which was held Feb. 1, was moved to Jamesburg because Officer Faraone is a Monroe Township employee and trying him there could be a conflict of interest. Judge Toto withheld judgment afterward so that he could review witness testimony and study the statutes cited by both sides in the case.
The New Jersey SPCA had argued that Officer Faraone violated state law when he gave the order to put the cat to sleep, but Judge Toto ruled that the prosecution had failed to prove Officer Faraone had ordered the cat’s destruction without consultation.
"I’m satisfied in this case that there was no intent on the defendant’s part to violate the law," Judge Toto said toward the end of his lengthy ruling. "It’s an unfortunate incident, but there’s no proof beyond a reasonable doubt."
Judge Toto said the prosecution also failed to prove that the cat in question belonged to Alice Hardie of Orrington Lane in Rossmoor, or that state law governing how and when animals could be euthanized prohibited Mr. Faraone from giving such an order.
He said state law in this case was ambiguous, but under his interpretation, Mr. Faraone probably did have the authority to issue the order, since employees at Sayrebrook and Jamesburg Animal Control Officer Paul Intravartola all of whom saw the cat on the day it was picked up agreed that it was sick and should have been put to sleep.
The judge did rebuke Officer Faraone, saying he should have at least attempted to give food and water to the cat, which Officer Faraone found lying in the gutter on Newport Way in Rossmoor Nov. 2. But he was equally critical of SPCA investigator Stuart Goldman, who "never spoke with anyone who actually saw the cat."
Officer Faraone refused to comment after the ruling, but his attorney, Joseph Benedict of New Brunswick, said the ruling was what he had been expecting ever since Judge Toto decided to withhold judgment to review state statutes after the Feb. 1 trial.
Jay Frederick, attorney for the New Jersey SPCA, said that while he was disappointed with the judge’s ruling, he was outraged by the response of spectators to the ruling.
"Just the fact that people were cheering in the back cheers about a cat being put down for people to condone that action is reprehensible," Mr. Frederick said. "If one of their animals was killed, would they be cheering?"
Ms. Hardie, who maintains that the euthanized cat was her 18-year-old pet, Caliqué, was also disappointed with the verdict and suggested that Judge Toto’s ruling was influenced by the fact that Officer Faraone is a law enforcement officer in a neighboring town.
"It’s sad to think that somebody would move the law just to protect a friend’s job," she said. "I’m glad he did make that comment that (Officer Faraone) should have given my cat some water, but we should be sending a message that we take care of our animals."
But some were less critical of the judge’s ruling. Jamesburg Mayor Tony LaMantia summed up the comments of many who were present in the court room when the judge read his verdict, calling the trial "a waste of the taxpayers’ money."
"The judge made the right call," Mayor LaMantia said. "For the state investigators to drag (Officer Faraone) through the gutter like this, it’s just stupid."