Lawyer Laughs While Reading Dog Abuser's Statement

An assistant district attorney couldn't contain his laughter in court yesterday while reading a suspect's statement about how she kicked her dog unconscious for relieving itself in a building elevator. "He was laughing and had to turn away because he couldn't control the laughter," said Legal Aid attorney, Stacy Schneider, who is defending suspected animal abuser Tiara Davis. "I didn't see any humor in the statement."

According to the Daily News, Assistant District Attorney Steven Constantiner started giggling while reading a part of Davis' statement describing why she kicked her four-year-old Pomeranian, named Sparky. A spokesman for the District Attorney's Office called Constantiner a "fine young lawyer," and said he "laughed briefly and unexpectedly while reading to the court the vulgarities the defendant used in her statement to police." Constantiner declined to comment.

Davis—who was the second person caught on tape abusing pooches in elevators in the Grant Houses in Morningside Heights—has pleaded not guilty to misdemeanor animal-cruelty charges that could carry a jail sentence of up to a year. Davis' lawyer denies that her client, a vocational counselor to ex-offenders, made any statements to police. But prosecutors claim she said: "It wasn't like I was killing him or anything like that. I mean I wasn't gonna really hurt him."

Sparky has reportedly been put up for adoption.

Contact the author of this article or email tips@gothamist.com with further questions, comments or tips.

By Ben Muessig in News on February 11, 2010 10:10 AM

Comments [rss]

sexisicilian

I would kick both of them & see how they like it. Case closed.

ridgeside

http://www.animalscam.com/

Amanda Harletsch

are you a teabagger?

How can you say that ALL work by animal advocates is wrong just by a handful of ISOLATED CASES?

Too convenient for some people to find gilt in social causes while the real evil is rampant all around!

Do you really care about truth?

Want to dig in a bigger issue:

http://www.corporatecrimereporter.com/corrupt100807.htm

dgeee

I would feed the bitch to a pit bull.

ridgeside

She was probably reading felix's comments on gothamist and kicked the dog in anger.

Amanda Harletsch

and that "anger" makes sense to you only!

you are a moron!

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

http://www.notmilk.com/

ridgeside

http://activistcash.com/organization_overview.cfm/o/136-humane-society-of-the-united-states

Antigone1000

No one should have to pay her legal fees. What defense can she possibly use, when they have that tape? She should have done the only honorable thing she could possibly do at this point which is to give up the dog (which she may have done) and plead guilty. Why waste taxpayers' money? She knows what she did, she should stop playing games and pay for her criminal act.

youngpro

that's pretty un-american of you. you and your humble opinion mean nothing to the rest of the country who has rights.

you have the right to counsel, period, even if you cant afford one. you pay for it as do i. if you couldnt afford one, i buy one for you. you should be thankful for this country.

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

This woman has a job, why is legal aid representing her. What a failed system.

youngpro

counsel is granted to everyone under the constitution, felix. and just because she has a job, doesn't mean she can afford a lawyer. big difference. let me guess- she shouldnt have a lawyer represent her in court at all, right??

FelixtheCat & Christine Quinn'

Seriously? The constitution does not guarantee a lawyer to anyone who can't afford it. There is a precedent that was set in the US Supreme Court case Gideon v. Wainwright, (1963) that clarifies that you have a right to a lawyer even if you don't have money for one.

I shouldn't have to pay for her legal fees and yours as well since you are a probably a 12b lawyer if you are a lawyer since you don't even know the Constitution.

youngpro

felix, youre a fucking retard. youre talking to a lawyer, asshole. gideon says right to counsel and fucking miranda says right to one even if you CANT afford one.

fucktard.

niloo

You are both wrong. The right to counsel is a constitutional right--read the Sixth Amendment. This provision originally applied only to defendants in federal courts. Gideon v. Wainwright extended the constitutional right to counsel to defendants in state courts by virtue of the due process clause of the Fourteenth Amendment. Gideon requires state courts to provide indigent defendants with legal counsel if they want one and can't afford it.