Robert Bertola

Killing and barbecuing a pet pig

Deming, NM

March 14, 2000

Sadie Emerson and her 3-year-old son Carl of 6640 Country Club Rd drove up and down their neighborhood streets looking for their Vietnamese potbellied pig named Tiny Boo. They found a group of people having a party near a mobile home and on the table was a their pig.

Robert Bertola of 2305 Needles Eye Rd. SE, the mobile home owner, told sheriff's deputies that he shot the pig with a rifle after the animal tried to attack him. He said he believed it was a wild pig, about to attack his daughters, Amber, age 10 and Danielle, age 9.

Emerson stated that the 50-pound pig was a gentle loving pet that played with her son and the family dog and wore a dog harness.

Bertola was charged with animal cruelty.

On April 13th, 2000 Bertola pleaded no contest in Luna County Magistrate Court to charges of cruelty to animals. A sentencing hearing will be held later because Emerson was delayed in transit by a family emergency and was unable to address the court.

Bertola then sought to withdraw the plea and have counsel. Ed Hand and Carlos Ogden then met with Bertola and filed motions asking to enter as his counsel and to allow the withdrawal plea, arguing that Bertola didn't understand the ramifications of his pleas, despite the court's explanation.

Both Bertola and Emerson went to New York to film "People's Court". Emerson was awarded a $2000 civil judgment at that trial.

On July 27, 2000, Judge Fred Gifford dismissed the charges against Bertola because the livestock inspector Buddy Eby lacked jurisdiction to charge him with cruelty to animals under New Mexico's Criminal Code.

Eby is a certified peace officer, having completed courses at the Police Academy in Santa Fe but Bertola's lawyers argued that Eby is only allowed to enforce Livestock Code and livestock inspectors cannot enforce New Mexico's Criminal Code.

The charges were dismissed without prejudice, which allows the district attorney's office to re-file or appeal the ruling. It also allows the pig's owner to re-file. In addition because of the dismissal the contract both signed for the Peoples' Court might be an issue because it is unknown if the New York civil judgment is binding in New Mexico.

As a further twist in this case, Bertola is now a suspect in the August 10, 2000 death of Stacy Lynn Milligan, age 24. Bertola was arrested on August 15th and had been arraigned on accessory to murder, tampering with evidence and possession of a stolen vehicle.

Bertola was sentenced to seven years in prison for armed robbery in Los Angeles County and committed to the California Department of Corrections on November 21, 1980, paroled on January 31st, 1985 and discharged from parole on March 2, 1986.

Bertola had been held since mid-August, 2000 on $250,00 bail until February 2001.

Update April 13, 2000:  The case of a murdered pet pig proved too big for New Mexico small claims court.

Instead, the case, which made national headlines earlier this month, yesterday wound up in New York, in the Fifth Avenue studios of "The People's Court," where Judge Jerry Sheindlin threw the book at defendant Robert Bertola.

It was a long way from the Land of Enchantment, but the change of venue didn't help Bertola beat the lawsuit brought by his neighbor, Sadie Emerson, whose Vietnamese pot-bellied pig, Tiny Boo, he fatally shot when it wandered onto his property March 14.

Bertola testified that he mistook the year-old, 50-pound animal for a dangerous type of wild boar called a javelina that roams the mountains and ranchlands around his five-acre spread near Deming, NM.

When the pig, which had escaped from an electrified pen in Emerson's backyard, came within 50 feet of Bertola's house, he said he feared the animal would attack his two small daughters. He ran into his house to grab a rifle and shot the pig three times from close range.

He later cut off its head, skinned it, and invited neighbors to come over and take a look. When Emerson drove up with her three-year old son, all that was left of Tiny Boo was a pile of raw meat. She says Bertola even offered her some.

Judge Sheindlin awarded the plaintiff $75 for the cost of the pig and then tacked on $2,500 in punitive damages (to be paid by the show, not the defendant).

References:

APB News

Headlight News

The New York Post