By Philip Sean Curran, Staff Writer
A Mercer County man was sentenced Friday to five years in state prison for killing a dog in Princeton, in what could be the longest prison term ever handed out in New Jersey for animal cruelty.
Michael G. Rosenberg showed no remorse and never apologized to the dog’s owner, who said in a Trenton courtroom that her "world was shattered" when Mr. Rosenberg killed Shyanne, her 3 ½-year-old Shepherd mix, in August 2012.
"It’s been a very long two years," Tracy B. Stanton told Superior Court Judge Pedro J. Jimenez Jr. during a statement in which she described Mr. Rosenberg as a "sick and disturbed person."
Standing at a lectern in front of the judge, she said her dog’s death was not an accident or an isolated incident. At times, she looked in the direction of Mr. Rosenberg, who sported a shaved head and a thick black beard. He sat at the defense table beside his lawyer, James R. Wronko, and said nothing when the judge gave him a chance to say something on his behalf.
Mr. Rosenberg, 32, had held himself out as a dog trainer, whom Ms. Stanton entrusted her dog to. Instead, he beat the dog such that a necropsy—the term for an autopsy for animals—revealed that she had suffered four broken ribs and a punctured lung.
A Mercer County grand jury indicted him Feb.13, 2014 on third-degree animal cruelty, which carried up to five years in prison. Subsequently, he was indicted in June 2013 on charges that he had abused his two dogs, also in 2012 in Princeton.
Mr. Rosenberg, formerly of Birch Avenue, initially fought the charges because they put him in legal jeopardy for a prior criminal case involving a 20-month sexual relationship he had with a 14-year-old girl starting in 2009. Mr. Rosenberg is under lifetime parole supervision for being a Megan’s law offender; as such any conviction would have been a parole violation.
Princeton animal control officer Mark Johnson, who was in court Friday, pursued Mr. Rosenberg relentlessly through the past few years. Mr. Johnson did not speak in court, but Ms. Stanton thanked him by name for his efforts.
The criminal cases against Mr. Rosenberg made its way through the court system, although he got in trouble again earlier this year, this time for trying to cheat on a urine test as part of drug monitoring. Rather than go to trial to face the charges, Mr. Rosenberg accepted a plea bargain from the Mercer County Prosecutor’s Office.
On May 27, he pleaded guilty to third-degree animal cruelty, with authorities agreeing to drop other charges against him including the ones involving his dogs.
Mr. Rosenberg on Friday also was re-sentenced to four years in prison for the offense involving the underage girl, now a college student who had submitted a letter in connection for the sentencing. His prison term for that offense will run concurrent to his punishment for killing Shyanne. Lawyers could not say for certain when Mr. Rosenberg would become parole eligible.
"It’s hard to tell," said deputy first assistant Mercer County Prosecutor Doris M. Galuchie outside the courtroom afterward.
He also must pay $570 in restitution to Ms. Stanton, and the judge banned him from having contact with animals until he completes psychological counseling.
For Ms. Stanton, the ordeal saw her experience had had to endure sleepless nights and the pain that the dog of losing Shyanne. In court, she said she had "lost one of my closest family members."
She has worked with state Sen. Jennifer Beck (R-11) on legislation that would require adults convicted of animal abuse to have to undergo mental health screening. The proposed measure, known as "Shyanne’s law," closes a loophole in state law that, at the moment, only requires such screening for minors.
Ms. Beck’s office said in a news release that the legislation was introduced Oct.10.
