How to Investigate Animal Cruelty in NY State – A Manual of Procedures

Return to Manual Table of Contents

People v. Koogan – Torture

Case established that a person is guilty of torture if he permits an animal who is suffering from physical maladies to be hired out to perform work.

People v. Koogan

PEOPLE v. KOOGAN 11 N.Y.S.2d, 49

Supreme Court, Appellate Division, Second Department

April 3, 1939

1. Animals 40
A defendant who had personal knowledge of condition of a horse which was suffering from open sores and who permitted animal to be hired out in such condition with consequent torture was guilty of a violation of statute relating to cruelty to animals. Penal Law, § 185.

2. Animals 42

In prosecution for violation of statute relating to cruelty to animals, testimony warranted conviction. Penal Law, § 185.

______

Appeal from Court of Special Sessions of City of New York, Borough of Brooklyn.

Harry Koogan was convicted of a violation of the Penal Law relating to cruelty to animals, and he appeals.

Affirmed.

Argued before LAZANSKY, P.J., and HAGARTY, CARSWELL, JOHNSTON, and CLOSE, JJ.

Simon A. Pode, of Brooklyn, for appellant.

H.J. Walsh, Asst. Dist. Atty., of Brooklyn (Wm. F.X. Geoghan, Dist. Atty., of Brooklyn, on the brief), for the People.

 

MEMORANDUM BY THE COURT.

Appeal from a judgment of the Court of Special Sessions of the City of New York, Borough of Brooklyn, convicting defendant of a violation of section 185 of the Penal Law (cruelty to animals), and sentencing him to pay a fine of $100, which he paid.

11 N.Y.S.2d4

[1,2] Judgment unanimously affirmed. The proof established that the defendant had personal knowledge of the condition of the horse. It also established that the horse was suffering from open sores and was permitted to be hired out despite this condition, with consequent torture to the animal. Under these circumstances the defendant is guilty of a violation of section 185. People v. Weeks, 172 App.Div. 117, 158 N.Y.S. 39. Apart from the element of personal knowledge, the testimony warranted a conviction. Verona Central Cheese Co. v. Murtaugh, 50 N.Y. 314; People ex rel. Price v. Sheffield FarmsSlawsonDecker Co., 225 N.Y. 25, 121 N.E. 474.

Return to Manual Table of Contents