After an Ohio Supreme Court ruling found felony-level animal cruelty covers harm to stray cats, the Eighth District Court of Appeals recently upheld the conviction of a man who poured bleach into an apartment building basement to make an unclaimed cat leave.

In October 2024, the Supreme Court reversed an Eighth District decision, which had found Alonzo Kyles could not be convicted of felony animal cruelty because he harmed a stray cat. The Supreme Court overruled the conclusion that the felony animal cruelty statute only applied to dogs and cats that had “received care” from someone, not strays.

The high court remanded the case to the Eighth District to consider Kyles’ claim that even if the law applied to stray cats, there was not enough evidence to prove he caused “serious physical harm” to the animal.

Writing for the Eighth District, Judge Emanuella D. Groves explained that in October 2021, two Cleveland police responded to a call from an apartment building resident who said another neighbor dumped bleach all over the building. Office Dominic Naples reported hearing a cat “meowing very loudly, like it was in pain” and observed large amounts of bleach covering the apartment building’s basement floor. The officer said the cat was lying down in the bleach and believed the cat was meowing in pain because he had never heard a cat meow like that.

Officer Michael Deighen reported the whole floor was coated in a mixture of water and bleach. Deighen picked up the small black cat and noticed bleach on its fur, and its paws were burned, red, and swollen.

Kyles told the officer he was scared of the cat, so he started dumping bleach to keep it away from him.

Veterinarian Jennifer Kinney treated the cat at West Park Animal Hospital Emergency Room. She observed the cat had an “overt strong bleach smell” and reported the cat’s paws were burned from the bleach. While she explained that serious physical harm could occur from ingestion or inhalation of bleach, she did not personally observe those types of injuries during the cat’s initial exam. She added that harm from ingestion or inhalation could occur later. The cat received basic life support treatment for a few days at West Park and was released to the Cleveland Animal Protective League.

Suspect Charged With Felony Cruelty

Kyles was indicted for a single felony count under R.C. 959.131(C), which provides that no person shall knowingly cause serious physical harm to a companion animal. The Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court found him guilty of the charge, and he was sentenced to nine months in jail. The Eighth District vacated the conviction, finding the cat was not a “companion animal.”

The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office appealed the decision to the Supreme Court, which ruled the law applies to all dogs and cats. The Court remanded the case to the Eighth District.

Kyles claimed the prosecutor failed to provide enough evidence to show he caused serious physical harm to the cat.

Judge Groves wrote the appeals court would not overturn a trial court’s decision so long as the trial judge “could reasonably conclude from substantial evidence that the State proved the offense beyond a reasonable doubt.”

The appeals court explained that “serious physical harm” is defined in R.C. 959.131(A)(12) and includes harm that “carries an unnecessary and unjustifiable substantial risk of death” or “acute pain of a duration that results in substantial suffering.”

The opinion noted the police officers had found a large amount of bleach covering the basement floor and believed the cat was in pain because of its loud meowing. The police and the veterinarian determined the bleach burned the cat’s paws, and the hospital examination found the cat’s pulse indicated a state of stress. Kinney also expressed concerns about injuries and death from the cat’s exposure to the bleach, the appeals court noted.

“Based on the evidence, the trial court could reasonably conclude that the cat suffered serious physical harm from its exposure to bleach,” Judge Groves wrote.

Judges Frank D. Celebrezze III and Sean C. Gallagher joined Judge Groves’ opinion.

State v. Kyles, 2024-Ohio-5817.

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