Before they put this suspected serial killer of a dog down like, well, a dog, a lawyer says he should have his day in court.
The Staten Island pit bull, named Caesar, allegedly killed a Chihuahua, a Maltese and a cat — but his owners argue he has rights, too.
“There really is a major constitutional issue here,” said a dead-serious Richard Bruce Rosenthal, the attorney for Caesar’s owners, Kristina and Douglas Panattieri.
“New York state law requires certain minimal due-process rights that the city simply ignores,” Rosenthal — known as “The Dog Lawyer” — explained. “The state requires that the city prove their case by clear and convincing evidence.”
He said the city’s administrative courts, which advise the Department of Health on which dogs are dangerous and should be put down, are governed by a “guilty unless proven innocent” standard.
“The bottom line is they want to kill him without a fair hearing,” Rosenthal said.
“The dog is like a child to them,” the lawyer added. “What they’re going through is absolutely horrible. Kristina is distraught.”
The incident that landed Caesar in the pound occurred in the New Dorp section of Staten Island on May 17 when a Chihuahua named Charlie encountered the 70-pound pit bull.
Caesar, 7, who had escaped from his back yard, ripped apart the tiny Chihuahua and left its owner, a 77-year-old man, with 18 puncture wounds, according to city records.
“My poor little guy,” the Chihuahua’s owner, Eugene Charles, told The Post after the savage attack.
“It took two minutes, and that was that,” Charles recalled.
A year earlier, Caesar had broken into a yard and killed a Maltese, the records show.
Then in 2010, he attacked a 30-year-old woman and killed her cat, according to the city.
The Panattieris blame the Chihuahua and the cat for their own deaths — and say the 77-year-old man was bitten by his own small dog.
“The dog was provoked!” Rosenthal huffed.
The lawyer accused the city of fabricating the other incidents.
A spokeswoman for the city Law Department said, “The city’s procedures adequately provide due process.”
Alas, Caesar won’t be heard by a jury of his puppy peers, but his case will be heard before a Manhattan Supreme Court justice on Aug. 15.
However, Caesar himself won’t be making an appearance — the pooch is being held in “solitary confinement” at the New York City Animal Care and Control Shelter, according to the suit.
Fortunately, Hulk, the world’s largest Pit Bull Terrier, has gentler hobbies: