Paul Bass Photo
Desmond the Dog’s defenders turned out in force on the steps to the state Superior Court building on New Haven’s Elm Street yesterday to learn that a prosecutor was championing their cause.
The prosecutor offered one the stiffest prison terms in memory in exchange for a deal that would end the state’s case against the Branford man accused of strangling his 6‑year-old boxer-pit bull mix to death.
The man’s response: no deal. He wanted to walk free.
Assistant State’s Attorney Joseph LaMotta articulated the plea deal in court, which a prior judge had ordered him to do by yesterday’s court date. He offered Alex Wullaert, 22, five years in prison, the maximum sentence for intentional animal cruelty, suspended after two years, plus additional three years probation. It would mean that Wullaert would spend a minimum of two years in prison, a sentence few drug dealers get. Wullaert previously confessed to Madison police that he strangled Desmond in his Branford apartment.
Standing before Superior Court Judge William Holden, Wullaert and his attorney, Richard P. Silverstein, took less than a minute to reject an offer they had no choice but to refuse. Then the judge asked Wullaert to enter a plea.
For the first time, Wullaert said: “Not guilty.”
With that plea, the case enters the pre-trial phase.
LaMotta also said the defense had a “right to argue” the issue, meaning that Silverstein could make a case for a lesser sentence or no sentence at all.
There was no mention of Wullaert seeking accelerated rehabilitation,(A/R) though he can probably raise that defense at a later date. Outside one protester (pictured) carried a sign indicated why she believed this route was not inappropriate for this case. Click here to read a story about A/R.
Wullaert looked shaken and pale as he stood in Courtroom A. Behind him in the spectator section sat about 20 people, mostly women and volunteers at animal shelters across the state. They are Desmond’s staunchest defenders. They say they feel as Micah Rapini, one of Desmond’s shelter moms and the primary organizer of the protest, felt on the day she learned that Desmond, her beloved shelter dog, had been killed. Wullaert never told shelters officials he had been Desmond’s former owner. Had he, the shelter would never have given him the dog.
After the brief court appearance, the Desmond followers, some wearing tee shirts with his image, filed quietly and slowly out of the courtroom as Judge Holden, who had placed the case first on the court calendar, watched them slowly leave. On this occasion, some of the protesters were children.
Tears welled up in Rapini’s eyes as she walked outside. She was overwhelmed by the actions of LaMotta, the prosecutor, she said.
“It is amazing what LaMotta did,” she said. “That proposed sentence is 18 months better than my wildest dreams.”
Silverstein, Wullaert’s defense attorney, also seemed stunned by the nature of the prison offer, which to him was unthinkable. He had indicated at the last court appearance he would agree to a plea only if his client “walked.”
But he was more amazed, he said, at the sustained “virulent reaction by the protesters. It is incomprehensible to me.”
Click on the play arrow to watch what happened when he and Wullaert arrived at the courthouse Thursday.
Before they could enter the courthouse, they were met by a wall of single-file screaming protesters carrying signs and shouting “coward!” The line nearly engulfed them and you can see Silverstein trying to shield Wullaert. At one point, Rapini said both groups pressed into each other, though that is not clear on the video. Wullaert, she said, turned beet red. “He was very angry because he slammed into us.”
In an exclusive interview with the Eagle, Silverstein said that he has been a criminal defense attorney for 27 years, and over the course of that time he had never encountered a case that “engendered so much hatred.”
He said he has represented defendants in over 70 homicides, “ where the issue was taking the life of another human being, and I have never seen a reaction to any of those [homicide] cases that even comes close to this case.”
He observed that he has been a dog owner all his life. He now owns two dogs. “But I also understand that good people on occasion do bad things.If I didn’t believe that I wouldn’t be in this business.”
Silverstein said when Wullaert walked into his office months ago, Silverstein didn’t know who he was. “He had some emotional problems, and I could empathize with him.” He said all indications are that Wulleart “loved that dog but was incapable of providing for it, though he gave it his best effort. It is my understanding that the dog bit him and he overreacted. He immediately felt remorse and regret and I know that to be true. He often visits the lake [in Madison] where he put him and brings flowers.”
Silverstein did not discuss the events that preceded the dog bite, including, according to the necropsy report, kicking, spanking and starving Desmond to death over an eight-month period of time. The necropsy report showed Desmond had broken teeth and hemorrhages on his head, ribs and stomach. The dog’s stomach contained segments of gauze, paper, fabric and plastic tissue, items found in a bathroom where Wullaert kept him for up to 12 hours a day. His then ex-girlfriend had no idea he had taken the dog from the shelter.
By the time he peed on Alex, Desmond was seriously ill, starving and disoriented, according to State Animal Control Officer Todd Curry. It was this intentional cruelty, Curry told the Eagle, which resulted in the felony animal cruelty charge, a charge that holds a five year prison term. Most animal cruelty cases are misdemeanors.
Melissa Izzo, an animal shelter volunteer in New Haven (at right right in top photo), who knew Desmond after Wullaert’s girlfriend gave the dog to the shelter, said she was proud of LaMotta. “His was a bold move. He took a stand. It is important for animals across the state. I feel comfortable Alex will end up in jail.”
Another protester, Christine Kiernan said she works as a volunteer for the Meriden Humane Society. “We are united as shelter workers. We love these animals and that is why we are here. Will will not forget what happened to Desmond.”
Pictured is another volunteer.
The next court date is on Oct. 30 in Courtroom C of the courthouse. Superior Court Judge Maureen M. Keegan is expected to hear the case. The protesters plan to return, bound now by a Justice for Desmond Face book page, whose reach has extended far beyond Connecticut.
In the meantime, Wullaert is still under court order not to possess any animal, a court order imposed by Superior Court Judge Susan Connors in August. It was Judge Connors’s final decision in the case before she was rotated to another jurisdiction and a new judge came in. Click here to read about that.
Laura Burban, the director of the Dan Cosgrove Animal Shelter in Branford, provided information to LaMotta that showed Wullaert purchased another pit bull-mix shortly after he said he killed Desmond and then neglected it.
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Attorney Silversein can't understand the protesters reaction because he hasn't seen protests for homicide cases? Dogs, unlike humans, unconditionally love their masters and lack the higher level intelligence required to process the meaning of cruelty. I think that the Atty should consider the possibility that his client might be insane and could eventually graduate to killing humans.