By the time an animal-control officer found the green iguana in September, blood was flowing out of its mouth and nostrils. Its head appeared to be injured. It was breathing, but unconscious, according to an arrest report accusing a man of torturing the creature.
The iguana died while the officer was driving it back to the animal-control office in Florida’s Palm Beach County, the arrest report says. PJ Nilaja Patterson, 43, was charged with animal cruelty for allegedly kicking, throwing and stepping on the animal until it was near death.
He later employed an unusual argument in his defense: The iguana started it.
Patterson, who stands 6-foot-3, argued that the three-foot iguana had “viciously attacked” him and that he was immune from prosecution under Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which allows a person to use force against someone who poses an imminent threat. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Dana Gillen on Friday rejected Patterson’s argument, the South Florida Sun Sentinel first reported.
Florida’s “stand your ground” principle, which also holds that a person is not obligated to retreat when threatened, does not usually apply to reptiles. It took a turn in the national spotlight in 2012, when it formed the basis of a not-guilty verdict in the case of George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager, in Sanford, Fla.
If convicted of animal cruelty, Patterson faces a maximum of five years in prison or a fine of up to $10,000. His attorney, Frank Vasconcelos, said his client maintains that he acted in self-defense against the iguana during the incident on Sept. 2.
“The fight is not over yet,” Vasconcelos, a public defender, wrote in an email to The Washington Post. “We will continue to litigate this issue until the very end.”
The octopus is officially having a moment. This aquarist has been in awe of them for years.
Green iguanas are considered an invasive species in Florida. State law allows people to “humanely” kill them on private property — a guideline generally interpreted to mean that the animal must die instantly and without suffering, the Sun Sentinel reported.
In an April 28 motion to dismiss the animal-cruelty case, Patterson’s lawyers said he was concerned for the iguana’s well-being when he saw it crossing a street near a public park last year. Patterson brought the iguana back to safety and left it alone as people started to gather to pet it, his attorneys wrote.
Then, the reptile became agitated. Before Patterson could remove it from the crowd, his lawyers wrote, the iguana leaned forward, bared its sharp teeth and tried to bite him. It missed, and Patterson tried to distract it so that it would not attack others, the attorneys argued.
As Patterson tried to move the iguana out of the area, it bit his right arm.
“Bleeding from one arm, Patterson kicked the iguana as far as he could,” his lawyers wrote. “An altercation between the Patterson and the wild beast took place. The wild beast was left incapacitated.”
The attorneys argued that Patterson’s use of force was reasonable because the iguana allegedly used physical violence first. Patterson was scared the animal would charge at him, the lawyers wrote. He later allegedly received 22 stitches at a hospital.
Prosecutors wrote in response that 32 minutes of surveillance video from a nearby public-utilities building proves the iguana was not a threat to anyone. The footage shows Patterson standing up from his seat in the park and approaching the animal to taunt, circle and lunge at it, Assistant State Attorney Alexandra Dorman wrote.
The iguana bit Patterson as a natural instinct against predators when the Florida man tried to pick it up, the prosecutors said. Patterson allegedly kicked the reptile at least 17 times while it tried to escape and laughed about the situation with friends while the iguana lay on the ground, motionless and unresponsive.
Patterson’s actions were not self-defense, the prosecutors wrote. They argued that Patterson “savagely beat, tormented, tortured, and killed this animal. There was no provocation and there was no justification for this act.”
The prosecutors also contended that Florida’s “stand your ground” law does not apply because the iguana was not a person. They added that Patterson’s force should be considered deadly, which the law only allows to avoid being killed or suffering great harm.
“The Defendant unnecessarily put himself in a position to be bit by this animal,” prosecutors wrote.
Patterson is scheduled to appear in court again July 30.
The iguana died while the officer was driving it back to the animal-control office in Florida’s Palm Beach County, the arrest report says. PJ Nilaja Patterson, 43, was charged with animal cruelty for allegedly kicking, throwing and stepping on the animal until it was near death.
He later employed an unusual argument in his defense: The iguana started it.
Patterson, who stands 6-foot-3, argued that the three-foot iguana had “viciously attacked” him and that he was immune from prosecution under Florida’s “stand your ground” law, which allows a person to use force against someone who poses an imminent threat. Circuit Judge Jeffrey Dana Gillen on Friday rejected Patterson’s argument, the South Florida Sun Sentinel first reported.
Florida’s “stand your ground” principle, which also holds that a person is not obligated to retreat when threatened, does not usually apply to reptiles. It took a turn in the national spotlight in 2012, when it formed the basis of a not-guilty verdict in the case of George Zimmerman, a neighborhood watch volunteer who fatally shot Trayvon Martin, an unarmed Black teenager, in Sanford, Fla.
If convicted of animal cruelty, Patterson faces a maximum of five years in prison or a fine of up to $10,000. His attorney, Frank Vasconcelos, said his client maintains that he acted in self-defense against the iguana during the incident on Sept. 2.
“The fight is not over yet,” Vasconcelos, a public defender, wrote in an email to The Washington Post. “We will continue to litigate this issue until the very end.”
The octopus is officially having a moment. This aquarist has been in awe of them for years.
Green iguanas are considered an invasive species in Florida. State law allows people to “humanely” kill them on private property — a guideline generally interpreted to mean that the animal must die instantly and without suffering, the Sun Sentinel reported.
In an April 28 motion to dismiss the animal-cruelty case, Patterson’s lawyers said he was concerned for the iguana’s well-being when he saw it crossing a street near a public park last year. Patterson brought the iguana back to safety and left it alone as people started to gather to pet it, his attorneys wrote.
Then, the reptile became agitated. Before Patterson could remove it from the crowd, his lawyers wrote, the iguana leaned forward, bared its sharp teeth and tried to bite him. It missed, and Patterson tried to distract it so that it would not attack others, the attorneys argued.
As Patterson tried to move the iguana out of the area, it bit his right arm.
“Bleeding from one arm, Patterson kicked the iguana as far as he could,” his lawyers wrote. “An altercation between the Patterson and the wild beast took place. The wild beast was left incapacitated.”
The attorneys argued that Patterson’s use of force was reasonable because the iguana allegedly used physical violence first. Patterson was scared the animal would charge at him, the lawyers wrote. He later allegedly received 22 stitches at a hospital.
Prosecutors wrote in response that 32 minutes of surveillance video from a nearby public-utilities building proves the iguana was not a threat to anyone. The footage shows Patterson standing up from his seat in the park and approaching the animal to taunt, circle and lunge at it, Assistant State Attorney Alexandra Dorman wrote.
The iguana bit Patterson as a natural instinct against predators when the Florida man tried to pick it up, the prosecutors said. Patterson allegedly kicked the reptile at least 17 times while it tried to escape and laughed about the situation with friends while the iguana lay on the ground, motionless and unresponsive.
Patterson’s actions were not self-defense, the prosecutors wrote. They argued that Patterson “savagely beat, tormented, tortured, and killed this animal. There was no provocation and there was no justification for this act.”
The prosecutors also contended that Florida’s “stand your ground” law does not apply because the iguana was not a person. They added that Patterson’s force should be considered deadly, which the law only allows to avoid being killed or suffering great harm.
“The Defendant unnecessarily put himself in a position to be bit by this animal,” prosecutors wrote.
Patterson is scheduled to appear in court again July 30.
