FREEHOLD A judge Tuesday purchased a psychiatric assessment for an Asbury Park man implicated of raping, abusing, mutilating, handcuffing and eliminating his family pet cat to figure out if he is skilled to continue to trial on animal cruelty charges.
At a conference prior to Superior Court Judge Chad N. Cagan, defense lawyer William Wackowski requested his customer, Bani J. Mezquititla, 18, to be assessed.
Wackowski said that thinking about the accusations and proof versus his customer, “how could proficiency not be a concern and issue?”
Sevan Biramian, an assistant Monmouth County district attorney, disagreed.
“There’s no bonafide factor to question proficiency,” Biramian said. “There’s a willful confession. There’s videographic proof that breaks any concept that this accused mishandles.”
However, Cagan said district attorneys raised the problem of Mezquititla’s psychological health when arguing at his detention hearing in March that he threatens.
“The court discovers, based upon the situations and the record that’s existed prior to me, that there is a doubt regarding his physical fitness to continue, and the court is going to give the accused’s movement to have actually the accused assessed for physical fitness to continue,” Cagan said.
Mezquititla is charged with 2 counts of third-degree animal cruelty, each bring possible jail terms as much as 5 years. One of the charges declares that Mezquititla tortured, tortured or mistreated his cat, Ellie, leading to her death. The other charge declares he utilized the animal in a sexual way.
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Biramian, at Mezquititla’s detention hearing, declared that the accused admitted to the abuse, stating it started in December when he began masturbating in front of the family pet. The conduct intensified to duplicated events of sexual relations with the family pet along with sexually breaking her with a pencil, Biramian declared.
In addition, Mezquititla is implicated of torturing Ellie by consistently strangling her with a wheel gadget including a phone-charger cable, door knob and cabinet knob, viewing her battle to breathe as he tugged the cable up and down.
Mezquititla bound the cat’s paws behind her back with mini handcuffs throughout the abuse, Biramian has actually declared. He likewise cut off her tongue and part of her jaw while still alive, and tossed her out of his house window once she was dead, the assistant district attorney has actually declared.
In reaching his choice that the accused must go through an examination, Cagan mentioned the words of Superior Court Judge Henry P. Butehorn, who commanded the detention hearing and purchased Mezquititla held without bail to wait for trial.
Butehorn, at the hearing, said Mezquititla explained his handcuffing of the cat as pretending to be a policeman and jailing the animal for having actually fled, Cagan kept in mind.
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Cagan likewise kept in mind the other accusations, consisting of that Mezquititla sexually permeated the cat, broke her with a pencil and dissected parts of her face while she was still alive,
Butehorn at the March hearing said Mezquititla’s supposed acts revealed “a wickedness of mind that works out beyond the animal cruelty statute,” Cagan kept in mind.
Mezquititla was apprehended March 2 after he informed his roomie the cat had actually fled, however then altered his story to state he tossed the family pet out of their house window. The roomie went outside, recovered the animal’s remains and brought it to the Asbury Park Police Department.
Authorities then discovered video and images of the abuse – some presumably revealing Mezquititla smirking as Ellie was having a hard time to breathe while being strangled.
The just plea deal on the table is for the accused to plead guilty to both cruelty charges in exchange for a five-year jail sentence.
More: Asbury Park man dealing with 5 years in jail for raping, abusing and eliminating pet cat
Cagan scheduled the next conference in the event for July 18.
Kathleen Hopkins, a press reporter in New Jersey because 1985, covers criminal offense, lawsuit, legal problems and almost every significant murder trial to strike Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at [email protected]
This post initially appeared on Asbury Park Press: Accused Asbury Park cat rapist to go through psych assessment
