Hearing for Asbury Park man accused having intercourse with, killing cat
A detention listening to for Bani J. Mezquititla, who’s accused of getting intercourse with, torturing and killing his pet cat, Ellie, was held.
Doug Hood, Asbury Park Press
FREEHOLD – The Asbury Park man accused of repeatedly raping, torturing and killing his pet cat Thursday misplaced an enchantment of his rejection right into a program that will have allowed him to keep away from prosecution for the crimes.
Superior Court Judge Christie L. Bevacqua rejected arguments by the legal professional for Bani Mezquititla that prosecutors abused their discretion in barring him from entry into the court docket’s pretrial intervention program.
“This court docket doesn’t discover that the state’s dedication that he’s not a correct candidate for PTI (pretrial intervention) is a patent and gross abuse of discretion,” Bevacqua stated at Mezquititla’s enchantment listening to.
Defense legal professional William Wackowski argued to the decide that Mezquititla, 19, wants psychological well being remedy, not jail, and must be afforded entry into the court docket diversionary program, which locations sure defendants underneath supervision for a time frame as an alternative of prosecuting them.
“This is a psychological well being case as I see it,” Wackowski argued to Bevacqua.
“What occurred is a symptom, not the issue,” the protection legal professional instructed the decide. “And, to say he isn’t proper for PTI, ship him to jail, he isn’t going to get remedy. He’s going to return out in 5 years, and we will have the identical drawback.”
Keri-Leigh Schaefer, assistant Monmouth County prosecutor, argued that the state took the character of Mezquititla’s alleged offenses and the details of the case into consideration and gave them heavy weight in rejecting him from this system.
“This animal cruelty case shocks the conscience,” Schaefer stated.
She elaborated that Mezquititla is alleged to have sexually abused his pet cat, “Ellie” on a number of events, tortured her by restraining her paws with miniature handcuffs whereas strangling her with a telephone charging wire. She stated he saved movies of the torture on his telephone and in the end threw her useless physique out of his residence window after he killed her.
“The state right here, in its rejection memorandum, discovered the defendant’s crimes must be vigorously prosecuted and that the group could be upset and alarmed if the defendant’s torture, sexual abuse and killing of a pet had been to obtain the leniency of diversion via the pretrial intervention program,” Schaefer argued.
Bevacqua, in rejecting Mezquititla’s enchantment, agreed that the alleged conduct “shocks the conscience” and that it seems to be “a unbroken sample of anti-social conduct.”
She stated the heavy weight placed on the details of the case, together with that Mezquititla admitted sexually penetrating Ellie with a pencil and his penis on repeated events, tortured her over a interval of months and even restrained her with miniature handcuffs to punish her for working away, couldn’t be overstated.
“It was his triggering occasion, Ellie’s working away, which in the end led to his breaking level, whereby he strangled her for seven minutes, resuscitated her solely to proceed his abuse, solely to discard her lifeless physique via his bed room window to his yard,” the decide stated.
Bevacqua famous the pretrial intervention program is designed to present sure defendants the chance to keep away from a prison document by offering “early rehabilitative companies anticipated to discourage future prison conduct,” however she stated the defendant was not entitled to entry into this system without any consideration. She stated a physician who evaluated Mezquititla conceded there have been issues in “precisely categorizing his danger towards future animal cruelty and violence towards people.”
Mezquititla is charged in an indictment with two counts of animal cruelty. One alleges he tormented, tortured or abused Ellie. The different accuses him of utilizing his cat in a sexual method.
He was arrested March 2 after he confirmed his roommate photos of the torture and instructed her he threw the pet out of their residence window. The roommate went exterior, retrieved the cat’s corpse and introduced it to the Asbury Park police, spurring an investigation.
Mezquititla then confessed to the abuse, telling police it started with him masturbating in entrance of the cat in December 2022 and escalated to repeated acts of sexual activity and sexually penetrating the cat with a pencil, authorities stated.
Authorities allege Mezquititla reduce off Ellie’s tongue and a part of her jaw whereas she was nonetheless alive earlier than throwing her out of his residence window.
Mezquititla has been held with out bail on the Monmouth County Jail since his arrest.
He faces a convention earlier than Superior Court Judge Chad N. Cagan on March 26.
Kathleen Hopkins, a reporter in New Jersey since 1985, covers crime, court docket circumstances, authorized points and nearly each main homicide trial to hit Monmouth and Ocean counties. Contact her at [email protected].
