Oswald Hall, 61, admitted to one count of third-degree animal cruelty in connection with the New Year’s Day incident in which he kicked the dog, Zoey, while wearing boots, the prosecutor’s office said. He will likely serve 364 days in jail in keeping with the plea agreement, and will be sentenced on Aug. 6 in Superior Court in Newark.
Zoey, who belongs to Hall’s girlfriend’s sister, survived the injury. The girlfriend and sister were living with Hall though both were out of the apartment at the time, authorities said.
A photograph the prosecutor’s office provided of Zoey shows the black and brown dog after its eye had been removed, with a plastic protective guard around its neck.
This was Hall’s second animal cruelty conviction. Last September, he struck his girlfriend’s dog in the head, causing trauma to that animal. He pleaded guilty to the charge in municipal court. Hall, of Park Avenue, has no other criminal history in New Jersey, court records show.
"This is a very, very sad case of a man who has a history of cruelty to animals," Assistant Prosecutor Dawn D’Amico said in a statement that accompanied the news release detailing the guilty plea. "We hope he and others will get the message that this kind of criminal conduct carries significant penalties."
Last week, an Essex County grand jury indicted a 25-year-old Newark woman on charges she threw a Shih Tzu into the street and threatened and assaulted its owner, allegedly because she was angry over a parking space. The dog was struck by an oncoming vehicle and killed.
(nj.com - June 22, 2012)