Kitten stomper Cody Tyler gets a break from Judge Michael P. Hatty

MICHIGAN -- A Brighton Township man's stomping to death of six kittens was a raw reaction by someone unable to cope with the kittens' owner, who harmed his child, an attorney said Thursday.

Defense attorney Heather Nalley said her client, Cody Michael Tyler, killed the cats because he could not cope with the woman who harmed his infant daughter and who appeared to love her animals more than her children.

Assistant Prosecutor Angela Del Vero said the act was "a consummate episode of domestic violence" whereby the defendant killed the kittens to "extract the most pain out of his significant other."

"I think the defendant wants you to see this act as a blind rage (and) he lost control, but his statements about the motivation for this act don't support that," she said. "It was thought out and it was meant to exact revenge on a person he shared a domestic relationship with."

Tyler faced a possible prison sentence for his guilty plea to three counts of animal cruelty causing death for stomping the kittens to death, but Livingston County Judge Michael P. Hatty sentenced the 21-year-old defendant to three years of probation with the first year served in the county jail. Tyler was given credit for 162 days already served in jail.

"I feel guilty for what I did every day," Tyler told the judge. "The guards at the jail treat me like garbage. ... I did something horrible. I wasn't thinking honestly.

"I feel horrible," he added as he wiped his tears with the sleeve of his shirt.

Livingston County Animal Control officers were called to a home in a subdivision near U.S. 23 and south of M-59 in Brighton Township when a 911 caller reported Sept. 20 that the kittens had been stomped to death.

The short-haired kittens were about 3 weeks to 4 weeks old and they were stomped with a large shoe or boot.

Nalley asked the judge to consider a county sanction based on Tyler's mental health, his upbringing and the circumstances that "taxed him beyond his abilities to cope." She said it was not a domestic violence situation, but rather Tyler lacking the necessary tools to manage the circumstances in his life.

Those circumstances include "severe issues of abuse" throughout his childhood, which included his father giving him alcohol and marijuana at age 5, Nalley said.

"He had to make a decision when he found out his daughter ... had severe head trauma at the hands of her mother and another daughter in that woman's care was sexually molested by the boyfriend allowed around the children," the defense attorney said. "It taxed (Tyler) beyond any level of tools he had.

"When I point out the vigilante justice, and I'm not necessarily analogizing him to that ... but what I'm pointing out is even people with the greatest set of tools react in situations like this badly," Nalley added.

Tyler said his 19-month-old daughter suffered a skull fracture as a result of the abuse.

Nalley said the kittens had no food, water or litter boxes and feces was all over the floor. She said the kittens were "heavily coated in live fleas" and stiff from rigor mortis when police were called.

Nalley said the home where the kittens lived had trash, debris and clothes scattered everywhere. There were piles of dishes and garbage covering countertops, tables and the living-room area.

The residence also housed five dogs, 10 birds, five cats, two fish tanks, a ferret and a bearded dragon. The fish tanks had dirty water, the cats showed signs of illness and the ferrets were living in feces and scratching themselves as if covered in fleas, the defense attorney added.

"There is more to this case than stomping of cats," Nalley told the judge. "Frankly, this wasn't done to hurt the animals necessarily. It was an act out of I have no tools to deal with (an) excessive, excessive, excessive situation that dealt with this child. ...

"This wasn't an intentional thing to hurt the cats in order to somehow inflict domestic violence on a woman to take that which she loved. The fact is this was an act because that woman loved her animals more than her daughters," Nalley said. "At least that's what my client perceived it as."

Hatty told Tyler that his decision to kill the kittens was a "bad impulse decision" and that he had to serve a penalty while also addressing his deeper issues.

Tyler's mother and maternal grandfather said after the hearing that Tyler is not the man people assume he is based on the incident with the kittens.

The grandfather, Bob Smith, recalled a incident when he and Tyler found a feral cat on the family's property, and he said that is more indicative of his grandson's character.

"I was afraid to touch the cat," but Tyler was not, Smith said. "Cody loves animals."

(Livingston Daily - March 26, 2015)