By Matt Gryta
Buffalo News
BUFFALO, NY — Gary L. Korkuc will learn today if he faces jail for allegedly marinating his former cat in olive oil, crushed red pepper and other spices last summer.
Following a one-day trial, acting City Judge Philip M. Marshall reserved decision Wednesday and said he will issue a verdict in the misdemeanor animal cruelty case today.
Korkuc, 52, a former Cheektowaga resident now under the care of Transitional Services, a Buffalo human services agency, could face up to a year in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Korkuc’s attorney, public defender Michael J. Pacifico, did not call his client or any other witnesses to testify.
Pacifico argued that police and officials of the SPCA Serving Erie County falsely told the news media last summer that Korkuc had marinated the 4-year-old cat he adopted from the SPCA months earlier.
Prosecutor Rachel D. Pilkington, in closing arguments, cited SPCA testimony that the cat, Navarro, which has since been readopted, suffered because Korkuc doused it in olive oil and spices.
Buffalo Police Officers Jerry Guilian and John Poisson testified that they could hear the cat meowing as soon as they stopped a vehicle driven by Korkuc as he turned from Broadway onto Memorial Drive without signaling at 7:45 p.m. Aug. 8.
They said Korkuc told them that he didn’t like the cat, which had gotten into kitchen food items by accident, and that he was taking it “for a Sunday bath.” They said they called the SPCA for advice.
SPCA veterinary technician Molly Rubenstein testified that she had to bathe the cat twice to eliminate the “very strong smell” of the crushed red peppers on the cat. She said Navarro “looked like a drowned rat.”
Dr. Helene Chevalier, the SPCA veterinarian who treated the cat, testified that Navarro was so quiet that she feared the animal was in shock.
Under cross-examination, Rubinstein and Chevalier said that no laboratory tests were conducted on the material removed from the cat that night and that the animal suffered no eye or lung damage.
Pacifico urged the judge to dismiss the case, emphasizing that the cat was not injured. His client had told police that Navarro “needed a Sunday bath” because it “got into some kitchen spices,” Pacifico said.
Korkuc, who last year lived in Cheektowaga, left the area, then was returned to Buffalo under arrest in mid-December, after being tracked to Prince George’s County, Md.
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