“Self-defense” cat killer Joseph Petcka returns to court today to tell a Manhattan judge he wants a retrial – unless prosecutors offer him a no-jail deal or drop the charges entirely.
Petcka’s first trial on felony animal-cruelty charges ended in a mistrial last month, after a single holdout juror decided the out-of-work actor and former Met farmhand kicked his girlfriend’s cat to death by accident, after the fang-baring feline twice bit his hand.
But prosecutors had convinced the other jurors that the drunken, 210-pound man repeatedly kicked fully declawed, 7-pound Norman to death in a jealous rage, after shouting at his gal pal, “You love that cat more than me!”
“We’ll be in court to find out if they’re making us a misdemeanor offer that doesn’t involve jail,” defense lawyer Charles Hochbaum said last night of prosecutors, who aren’t commenting on Petcka’s “Live Free or Try” ultimatum.