Pennsylvania: Gerald Walker Jr., 20, convicted of animal abuse. His mommy had already been charged with threatening the witness. It gets even better. In court, his mamaw threatens a witness and she gets charged too!

PENNSYLVANIA -- Several minutes after Gerald D. Walker Jr. was convicted Thursday of animal cruelty for starving a pit bull until it weighed just 14 pounds, his grandmother was charged with threatening a witness against him.

Joann Pinno, 72, of Penn Hills was arrested outside the courtroom of Allegheny County Common Pleas Judge Anthony M. Mariani.

The gray-haired woman was walking out of the courtroom when she leaned over and told Kimberly Maloney, “Go ahead be laughing, because ... it ain’t over.”

“Did you hear that? She threatened me,” Ms. Maloney told court personnel.

Ms. Pinno was arrested by Pittsburgh Police Officer Christine Luffey, who had investigated and earlier arrested Mr. Walker on a charge of animal cruelty. She was charged with making terroristic threats and intimidating a witness.

After several hours of testimony in a non-jury trial Thursday, the judge found Mr. Walker, 20, guilty of a misdemeanor count of animal cruelty. The judge sentenced him to 18 months of probation, fined him $1,000 plus court costs, and said he cannot own animals while on probation.

Assistant District Attorney Deborah Jugan proved that Mr. Walker’s conduct “was willful and malicious,” the judge said. “This dog was not fed for a long period of time” and “was tied to a door with a four-foot leash. Mr. Walker, I want to emphasize you eventually did the right thing which is why you are not going to jail.”

The “right thing,” the judge said, was Mr. Walker agreeing to turn the emaciated dog over to Officer Luffey and Edward Mitchell, humane officer for the Western Pennsylvania Humane Society, on Jan. 21. He was arrested in February.

Mr. Walker could have been sentenced to as much as two years in jail.

Mr. Walker and his family had called the 3-year-old dog “Ladybug” or “Lady.” The Humane Society named her “Effie” and made her the poster dog in an ongoing campaign to push for stiffer penalties and jail time for animal abusers.

Assistant public defender Joseph Paletta said Mr. Walker thought the dog was losing weight because she had “worms”. At times he didn’t have money to feed the dog, he said, calling Mr. Walker’s behavior “negligent and wrong but not willful or malicious.”

Ms. Maloney testified that she worked at the same company with Tia Matthews, Mr. Walker’s mother. She said she had earlier “pet sat” Ladybug at her own house, and had given the family dog food, flea medications and money to care for the dog, which weighed about 40 pounds at that time.

When she offered to adopt Ladybug because she was not being regularly walked or fed, Mr. Walker said no, Ms. Matthews testified.

 

 

Mr. Walker’s mother faces trial next week on charges that she threatened Ms. Maloney after she testified against Mr. Walker earlier this year at a preliminary hearing in the same case.

Effie went to the Humane Society on Jan. 21 and was sent for emergency surgery on Jan. 22 after she vomited the food and water she was given.

Veterinarian Jessica Ogden, a surgical resident at Pittsburgh Veterinary Specialty and Emergency Center in Ohio Township, said Effie’s stomach and intestines were blocked by cloth, an orange, pieces of plastic, small bones and corn kernels.

There was no food in Effie’s stomach, no fat on her body, and her muscles were atrophied, Dr. Ogden testified. “It would likely to take three to four weeks weeks” for a dog to get that thin, she said. “We were concerned she would not make it through the surgery” because of her low weight.

The dog’s condition was reported by William E. Stewart, a property manager for the owners of the building where Mr. Walker lived in Homewood. While inspecting for rodent infestation at Mr. Walker’s apartment, he saw the dog, took her photo and emailed it to the Humane Society.

At the time of his arrest, Mr. Walker had moved and was living with an aunt and the dog in Wilkinsburg.

Effie is still at the Humane Society shelter on the North Shore. She weighs 43 pounds and has made a full recovery.

(Pittsburgh Post Gazette - Aug 5, 2016)

Earlier:

• Pennsylvania: Gerald Walker Jr., 19, owner of badly emaciated dog described as 'fur on top of a skeleton' charged
• Pennsylvania: Suspect's mother accused of intimidating witness in animal abuse case
Pennsylvania: Despite his mommy threatening witnesses, Gerald Walker Jr., 20, convicted of starving pit bull to 14 pounds