Cat killer given six-month sentence and probation

Nevada Appeal News Service

South Lake Tahoe - A man who killed and charred his ex-girlfriend's cat was given six months in jail and four years probation, with a condition he doesn't own pets during those four years.

Christian Dale Beach, 36, sat at the defense table with his head bowed Thursday during sentencing at El Dorado County Superior Court on a felony animal cruelty charge. He pleaded guilty last month.

Handcuffed and in the customary orange jail jumpsuit, he expressed sorrow and apologized for the Valentine's Day killing of Bobbyy, an orange tabby once scarred in the Southern California wildfires.

"I just lost my mind that day," he said. "It's not like me to do such a thing."

Last month Beach and his ex-girlfriend, Tracy Barker, got into repeated arguments at their Strawberry home while Barker was attempting to remove her clothes and cat from the home.

Beach told Barker he placed the cat in the pound when she couldn't find Bobbyy.

After a fruitless check at the El Dorado County Animal Shelter, Barker and her friends returned. Barker then broke the cat's neck and slammed Bobbyy to the ground in front of the group.

Afterward, Beach took the cat to the fireplace and burnt its body with a small blowtorch.

Deputy District Attorney Lisa Serafini, who was not present during the plea agreement, wanted to argue for more time in jail for Beach. While he did not learn of the blowtorch until Thursday, Lasarow said he was leaning toward giving more time than the 90 days in jail.

The judge said Beach could withdraw his plea if he didn't want to spend more than three months in jail.

Beach said he would serve the six months Lasarow indicated he might hand down.

"He feels he deserves that," Public Defender Rick Meyer said.

In addition to the time in jail and four years of probation, Beach will undergo a 52-week anger management course and undergo a psychiatric evaluation. He was also ordered not to contact Barker and to pay fees.

"I am looking forward to reading the psychiatric evaluation," Serafini said. "Hopefully it will provide direction to make sure this doesn't occur again."

Barker wrote a letter describing the day and her loss. In the letter she stated how she cries daily, waived a semester in college because she couldn't concentrate and finds solace at Bobbyy's grave site in Southern California.

"As much as I've tried to forget and leave it in the hands of the law, I think of it every day," she wrote. "It sickens me and I cry every day."

Contact reporter William Ferchland at wferchland@tahoedailytribune.com