Appeals court reinstates conviction of Rockville Centre man charged with fatally kicking Yorkshire terrier

A Rockville Centre man convicted in 2024 of fatally kicking a 4-pound Yorkshire terrier during an argument with the dog’s owners will go back to court after a state appeals court reinstated his felony conviction Wednesday.

Peter Galantino, a businessperson and co-owner of a youth soccer league, was found guilty of aggravated animal cruelty, a felony, and misdemeanor animal cruelty by a jury in January 2024 after a weeklong trial.

The charges stemmed from an argument he had with Elizabeth Joyce and her husband, retired NYPD K-9 trainer James Joyce, on March 14, 2020, after the couple saw Galantino’s goldendoodle, Louie, defecate on a neighborhood lawn and saw Galantino not pick it up.

The argument became heated, and Galantino, who took the stand during the trial, said that he was afraid of the Joyces and their other dog, Aoife, a German shepherd.

During the exchange, Louie jumped up on Elizabeth Joyce, prompting her to brush the dog off her leg, she said at trial.

“You kicked my dog, now I’m going to kick your dog,” she said Galantino told her.

The Joyces said that the kick launched the Yorkie, named Mocha, so high that she cleared the telephone wire and landed on her head, crushing her skull.

A necropsy showed severe bleeding from the skull as well as internal bleeding of the canine’s liver.

It took the jury two days to return a guilty verdict, but after Galantino was convicted, his attorneys, Susan and John Carman, asked state Supreme Court Justice Howard Sturim to set aside the felony conviction, arguing that one kick did not rise to the level of aggravated animal cruelty. The judge agreed.

Sturim sentenced Galantino to two weeks in the county jail.

"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."

The Nassau County District Attorney’s Office appealed the judge’s decision, arguing in court papers that Galantino’s lawyers were too late with their motion and should have made the request before the jury’s verdict.

The appeals panel agreed, reversing Sturim’s ruling and reinstating the felony conviction.

Nassau District Attorney Anne Donnelly said that her office would again ask for jail time for Galantino.

“I am grateful for the appellate court’s decision in this case, rightfully reinstating the felony conviction of this defendant for cruelly and callously causing the death of little Mocha six years ago,” she said in a statement. “My office awaits the scheduling of a sentencing date at which time we intend to seek incarceration.”

That may not happen for another year or longer. Galantino’s lawyers said that they intend to take the case to a higher court.

“We read the decision to be technical and procedural and understand it to invite further appeal,” John Carman said in a written statement. “Mr. Galantino remains optimistic that the end result will be positive.”