Man Sentenced to Year in Jail for Stomping Kitten

A Vista man was sentenced to one year in jail for felony animal abuse after stomping a neighbor’s kitten in a fit of anger, leaving it partially paralyzed until it was put to death last month.

Superior Court Judge Ronald Prager handed down the unusually stiff term this week after viewing a San Diego Humane Society video of the 8-week-old cat, named Fluffy Kitten, scooting around a pen, dragging her paralyzed hind legs.

“Helpless animals need to be protected,” Prager said. “Somebody who would inflict an injury like that on an animal obviously has a very difficult time controlling his anger.”

Craig Eugene Leist, 31, pleaded guilty last month to a felony animal abuse charge, but told the judge Thursday that he had not intentionally stepped on the gray and white cat.

“If I stomped on that poor thing . . . it would have been killed,” said Leist, noting that he is more than 6 feet tall, weighs 190 pounds and wears a size 12 shoe. “I’ve always loved animals, and I’ve never had any problem of this type before.”

Defense attorney Roy Spencer contended that the incident was an isolated one committed in a “flash of anger.” Prosecutor Kelly Rand alleged that Leist attacked the kitten Oct. 10 after a heated dispute with its owner, a neighbor.

Leist asked Prager to release him, saying he needed to return to work at a northern San Diego County carwash so he could provide for his fiancee and 16-month-old son.

But the judge said he believed Leist had purposefully attacked the cat and said he might have ordered a state prison sentence were it not for a plea bargain last month that precluded that option.