Commonwealth v. Szewczyk , 89 Mass. App. Ct. 711 ( 2016 )

NOTICE: All slip opinions and orders are subject to formal
revision and are superseded by the advance sheets and bound
volumes of the Official Reports. If you find a typographical
error or other formal error, please notify the Reporter of
Decisions, Supreme Judicial Court, John Adams Courthouse, 1
Pemberton Square, Suite 2500, Boston, MA, 02108-1750; (617) 557-
1030; SJCReporter@sjc.state.ma.us
15-P-155 Appeals Court
COMMONWEALTH vs. STANLEY F. SZEWCZYK.
No. 15-P-155.
Hampshire. December 14, 2015. - July 14, 2016.
Present: Grainger, Hanlon, & Agnes, JJ.
Dog. Animal. Practice, Criminal, Findings by judge.
Complaint received and sworn to in the Northampton Division
of the District Court Department on June 10, 2014.
The case was heard by Jacklyn M. Connly, J.
Thomas P. Vincent for the defendant.
Thomas H. Townsend, Assistant District Attorney, for the
Commonwealth.
HANLON, J. After a jury-waived trial in the District
Court, the defendant was convicted of one count of cruelty to an
animal in violation of G. L. c. 272, § 77. He now appeals,
arguing that the judge erred in denying three of his eleven
2
requests for rulings of law, pursuant to Mass. R. Crim. P. 26,
378 Mass. 897 (1979).1 We affirm.
Background. The judge heard the following facts. Amy
Lovell moved with her partner and two children to a new home in
Hatfield in October, 2013; the family planned to farm. The farm
was also home to a cat, ten goats, approximately twenty-five
chickens, and a sheepdog named Kiera. On January 26, 2014,
Lovell noticed that Kiera, who had been tied with a nylon leash
to the woodshed in Lovell's yard, had chewed through the leash
and wandered off the property.2 Lovell and her partner got in
1
The rule provides: "Requests for rulings in the trial of
a case shall be in writing and shall be presented to the court
before the beginning of closing arguments, unless consent of the
court is given to present requests later."
2
On three prior occasions, Kiera had gotten loose from
Lovell's property and wandered onto the defendant's property
across the street and two houses down from the farm. The first
time Kiera got loose was soon after Lovell's family arrived;
while they were unpacking, one of the children had left a door
open. The defendant returned the dog that time. He "appeared
on [Lovell's] doorstep, very angry, holding [her] dog by [the]
collar;" he yelled at Lovell for letting her dog run loose,
telling her that the town had a leash law. He refused to accept
Lovell's apology. Within a few days, Kiera got loose again;
that time the defendant returned Kiera, "dragging her by the
collar back, and just walked right into [Lovell's] house"
without knocking. Again, Lovell apologized and explained that
her family had just moved in; that they were getting settled and
were planning to put up a fence. Approximately one week later,
the dog got loose a third time from a dog run in Lovell's back
yard. Lovell was returning home when she saw Kiera in front of
the defendant's house; Lovell stopped her truck and the dog
hopped in. Before Lovell could drive on, the defendant "ran out
of his house and ran in front of [her] car, and stopped in a
very aggressive stance, sort of . . . like a wrestler."
3
their truck to search for the dog; they found her a short
distance away standing uncharacteristically still in the middle
of the street in front of the defendant's house.3 When they
drove up, Lovell noticed the dog was holding up her hind leg.
Whereas, normally, she would have jumped into the truck, this
time, she had to be lifted into the truck to be brought home.
Once there, Lovell noticed drops of blood on the kitchen floor
and, when she looked closer, she found a small, round hole in
the dog's hind leg with blood coming from it. The dog whined
and tried to lick the wound and was unable to walk.
The next day, Lovell brought the dog to a veterinarian. An
X-ray showed a pellet lodged deep in the dog's left flank, very
close to the bone. The dog was returned to the veterinarian two
days later for surgery to remove the pellet; the doctor halted
the surgery after deciding that to continue would risk further
nerve damage. The veterinarian referred Lovell to a surgeon.
The surgeon also determined that surgery would be too risky, and
the pellet remained in the dog's leg. The dog was given pain
According to Lovell, "he was instantly red in the face,
screaming at [her] and he said, "if I see her loose again, I
will shoot her dead." As noted, each of these three incidents
occurred in late October or early November; there were no
further incidents until the one at issue, approximately two
months later.
3
This breed of dog is generally known as a livestock
guardian; its normal behavior is to be constantly "scoping,
getting a lay of the land" not staying still.
4
medication for about one week after the visit. The surgeon
opined that "even though the dog wasn't complaining, I'm sure
that it hurt from having the pellet in the leg and from the
surgery."
For the next week, Lovell kept the dog in the house, rather
than outside in the barn; the family brought her food to her
because "she was unable to walk. She remained [lying] down for
the next week." The dog showed "great pain" and the injury was
"very much bothering her"; she was "up all night whining for
days." As a result of the injury, the dog has a permanent limp
although she can still perform her function of guarding the
family's livestock.
The defendant testified that, when he saw the dog in his
yard for the fourth time, he shot her with a .22 caliber air
powered pellet gun, from a distance of about fifty to sixty feet
away. He hit the dog with one shot exactly in the spot where he
aimed, in an attempt to "sting" her and scare her from his yard.
He did not call the town dog officer.4 The defendant testified
that, while the dog was not aggressive in any way, he shot her
in an attempt to protect his wife, who suffered from multiple
sclerosis. He stated that, because of his wife's medical
condition, she has difficulty lifting her feet up and, instead,
4
The defendant testified that he had previously called the
town animal control officer when Kiera was on his property.
5
slides her feet when she walks; if she lifts her feet "it's just
as likely she's going to fall to one side or the other." The
defendant had used a snow blower to create paths in the snow so
that his wife could exercise, but he was concerned that dog
feces on the paths might make it difficult for her to do that;
photographs of feces in the defendant's yard were admitted in
evidence. The defendant's wife had fallen a number of times in
the time leading up to the incident, although there was no
evidence that any of her falls were related to dog feces. In
addition, at some point after the incident, the defendant left a
message on Lovell's telephone voicemail, apologizing for
shooting the dog and offering to pay the medical bills.
At the close of evidence, the defendant submitted a written
request for rulings pursuant to Mass. R. Crim. P. 26. The judge
accepted rulings numbered one through eight, but denied rulings
numbered nine through eleven. At the end of the trial, the
judge found the defendant guilty, and ordered, among other
things, that the defendant be placed on administrative probation
and pay restitution for the cost of the veterinarian expenses.
Discussion. The defendant's principal argument is that, in
shooting the dog, he "pursued a lawful purpose and his intent
was justifiable." If so, he contends, "his actions do not fit
within the definition of 'cruelty' in G. L. c. 272, § 22." He
also argues that three of his requests for rulings of law,
6
numbered nine, ten and eleven were wrongfully denied. The three
requests at issue were:
"9. The defendant's purpose, to scare the dog off his
property and to discourage its return, is a lawful
purpose.
"10. The defendant's intent to ensure his wife's
safety from falls due to the dog's presence on the
property was justifiable in light of his wife's
vulnerability caused by her medical condition.
"11. The pain inflicted by the defendant shooting the
dog in the rump once with a pellet gun from a distance
of about [fifty] feet for a lawful purpose and with
justifiable intent does not fit within the meaning of
'cruel' under G. L. c. 272, § 77."
Requests for rulings under rule 26 are applicable to jury-
waived trials in the District Court.5 They are "intended to
secure for the purpose of review a separation of law from fact
in cases where the trial judge acts both as factfinder and
applier of law." Commonwealth v. Kingston, 46 Mass. App. Ct.
444, 448 (1999), quoting from Reporters' Notes to Rule 26, Mass.
Ann. Laws, Rules of Criminal Procedure, at 441 (Law. Co-op.
1979). See also Reporters' Notes to Rule 26, Mass. Ann. Laws,
Rules of Criminal Procedure, at 1627 (Lexis Nexis 2015)
(Reporters' Notes). Although case law regarding requests for
rulings of law generally has arisen in the context of civil
litigation, the rule also applies to criminal cases. Reporter's
5
Rule 26 also applies to jury-waived trials in the Superior
Court, the Boston Municipal Court, and all delinquency and
youthful offender proceedings in the Juvenile Court. Cypher,
Criminal Practice & Procedure § 38:1 (4th ed. 2014).
7
Notes to Rule 26. See Cypher, Criminal Practice & Procedure
§ 38:3 (4th ed. 2014) (Cypher). Rule 26 requests are to be made
for rulings of law only, and the judge is not required to honor
requests for findings of fact. See Stella v. Curtis, 348 Mass.
458, 461 (1965); Reporter's Notes, supra. See also Cypher,
supra at § 38:6. "The request is a request for a finding of
fact if it calls for the application of the reasoning powers of
the judge as to the facts or involves weighing of evidence."
Ibid. Cf. Davis, Malm, & D'Agostine, P.C. v. Lahnston, 82 Mass.
App. Ct. 254, 258 (2012).
In this case, each of the first eight rulings stated
principles of law, with citations to supporting case law.6
6
The first eight requests were:
"1. Cruelty as used in G. L. c. 272, § 77, is 'severe pain
inflicted upon an animal . . . without any justifiable
cause.' Commonwealth v. Zalesky, 74 Mass. App. Ct. 908,
909 (2009), quoting Commonwealth v. Lufkin, [7 Allen] 579[,
581] (1863).
"2. Proof of cruelty is accomplished if the evidence shows
that the [d]efendant 'intentionally and knowingly did acts
which were plainly of a nature to inflict unnecessary
pain.' Zalesky, [supra] at 909.
"3. The motive of intending to inflict injury or suffering
is not, by the terms of the statute, made an essential
element of the offence. Lufkin, [supra] at 581.
"4. Other cases, suggested in Lufkin[, supra] at 581,
where no purpose of 'the gratification of a malignant or
vindictive temper' is shown to exist, but are within the
'intent as well as the letter of the law,' are: 1) 'cruel
beating or torture for the purpose of training or
8
Requests numbered nine through eleven do not state principles of
law; each of those requests is a summary of the facts argued by
the defendant in his defense. Because the judge has broad
discretion in instructing on the law of the case, we consider
whether the judge abused her discretion in striking rulings
correcting an intractable animal;' 2) 'pain inflicted in
wanton or reckless disregard of the suffering it occasioned
and so excessive in degree as to be cruel;' and 3) 'torture
inflicted by mere inattention and criminal indifference to
the agony resulting from it, as in the case of an animal
confined and left to perish from starvation . . . .'
Lufkin,[supra].
"5. The pertinent language of G. L. c. 272, § 77, for this
case reads as follows: 'Whoever . . . cruelly beats . . .
an animal, or causes . . . an animal to be . . . cruelly
beaten . . . shall be punished.'
"6. The motive of a person who inflicts pain on an animal
may be material to the issue of whether the acts of the
defendant are criminal. Lufkin, [supra] at 582.
"7. 'Pain inflicted for a lawful purpose and with a
justifiable intent, though severe, does not come within the
statute meaning of "cruel."' If one drives 'a horse at a
rate of speed most distressing to the brute, when the
object is to save human life, for example, or to attain any
other object of adequate importance, may yet be lawful.[']
Lufkin, [supra].
"8. The Town of Hatfield By-Laws, §2.07: Dog Regulations,
states:
"'a) No person shall allow a dog of which he is owner
or keeper:
"'i. to go beyond the confines of his property unless
the dog is held firmly on a leash;
"'ii. by biting, barking, howling, or in any other
manner to disturb the peace or quiet of any
neighborhood or endanger the safety of any person.'"
9
numbered nine, ten, and eleven. See Commonwealth v. Williams,
53 Mass. App. Ct. 719, 720 (2002). Compare Commonwealth v.
Saletino, 449 Mass. 657, 667 (2007) ("decision whether to
provide a missing witness instruction to the jury is within the
discretion of the trial judge, and will not be reversed unless
the decision was manifestly unreasonable").
Here, we are satisfied that each of the requests for
rulings denied by the judge was a request for a finding of fact,
calling upon the judge as factfinder to weigh the evidence
presented at trial. Such rulings are clearly outside the scope
of rule 26, and the judge did not abuse her discretion in
denying them. See Cypher, supra at § 38:6. See also Williams,
supra.
We next consider the evidence, "together with permissible
inferences from that evidence, in the light most favorable to
the Commonwealth, to 'determine whether any rational trier of
fact could have found the essential elements of the crime beyond
a reasonable doubt.'" Commonwealth v. Walker, 68 Mass. App. Ct.
194, 198 (2007), quoting from Commonwealth v. Cordle, 412 Mass.
172, 175 (1992). "The governing statute, G. L. c. 272, § 77, as
appearing in St. 1977, c. 921, § 2, provides: 'Whoever . . .
cruelly beats, mutilates or kills an animal . . . shall be
punished . . . .' 'Cruelty in this context is "[s]evere pain
inflicted upon an animal . . . without any justifiable cause.'
10
Commonwealth v. Lufkin, 7 Allen 579, 581 (1863)." Commonwealth
v. Linhares, 80 Mass. App. Ct. 819, 823-824 (2011).
"'Specific intent to cause harm is not required;
"decisional law makes clear that in circumstances involving the
direct infliction of pain on an animal all that must be proved
is that the defendant 'intentionally and knowingly did acts
which were plainly of a nature to inflict unnecessary pain.'"
Commonwealth v. Erickson, [74 Mass. App. Ct.] 172, 177 (2009),
quoting from Commonwealth v. Magoon, 172 Mass. 214, 216 (1898).'
Commonwealth v. Zalesky, 74 Mass. App. Ct. 908, 909 (2009).
'The defendant's guilt did not depend upon whether he thought he
was unnecessarily cruel, but upon whether he was so in fact.'
Commonwealth v. Magoon, supra." Commonwealth v. Linhares, supra
at 824.
In this case, the defendant testified that he intended to
shoot the dog and, in fact, hit her exactly in the spot where he
aimed. Whether the defendant intended only to "sting" the dog
in order to discourage her return to the defendant's property is
immaterial. See Commonwealth v. Erickson, supra at 177
(necessary that the defendant "intended the act to occur which
constitutes the offense"). Shooting the dog and having the
pellet lodge in her hind leg, deep into the muscle and close to
the bone, unnecessarily, and unjustifiably, caused severe pain
to the animal to the point where she was unable to walk, was
11
kept up at night for several days whining, remained lying down
for a week, with her food brought to her, and required
confinement to the house for approximately months until she had
recuperated fully. In addition, although it was unsuccessful,
the dog required surgery, was given pain medication, and still
has a limp, all as a consequence of the defendant's admitted
actions.
While the defendant's concern for his wife's safety is
understandable, even admirable, he had legal alternatives to
shooting the dog, including monitoring his property for animal
feces when his wife was planning to walk, and calling the town
dog officer, as he had done before. In addition, as he
testified, he aimed and fired directly at the dog, hitting her
in precisely the spot he intended.
On these facts, we are satisfied that the judge reasonably
could have found that the defendant "intentionally and knowingly
did acts which were plainly of a nature to inflict unnecessary
pain, and so were unnecessarily cruel." Commonwealth v.
Zalesky, supra at 909.
Judgment affirmed.