A 44-year-old Kewaskum man appeared in Washington County Circuit Court on charges of killing a cat with a golf club.

Steven H. Bath faces up to 5years in prison if convicted of animal cruelty. He was living with his sister in the Town of Kewaskum, where his 13-year-old niece had been caring for the cat, which she recently had found, according to a criminal complaint.

On July 20, the cat was in the front yard of the home in the 3400 block of Highway 28. Bath grabbed the cat and hit it once with his 3-wood golf club.

He "stated that his intentions when he hit the cat was to kill the cat because he did not want it around any longer," quoting him as saying, "It's only a stupid cat."  Bath then disposed of the cat.

The niece soon discovered her pet was missing.  "She cared for the cat very much and was very upset that it was missing."

On July 25, deputies were called after another 13-year-old relative overheard a conversation in which Bath and his father, Harold Bath, talked about the cat.

Bath said "he thought about dumping the cat off on the side of the road somewhere but then the cat scratched him, so he put it on the ground and hit it with the golf club, killing it," the boy told investigators.

Harold Bath told investigators that his son admitted killing the cat with the club because it had scratched him.

When a deputy sheriff talked to Steven Bath, he said he was afraid the cat would scratch him or his dogs. He denied that the cat had ever scratched him, according to the complaint.

He returns to court on Aug. 29 for further proceedings.

Bath's cousin Richard Pesch is also facing charges of animal cruelty in an unrelated incident.

Update 11/7/02:  Trial dates were set in Washington County Court for a Kewaskum man accused of using a golf club to kill his niece's cat.

Steven H. Bath , 44, was charged with mistreating animals - intentional mutilation, disfigurement, or death of animal.

A trial was scheduled for Jan. 8, 2003.

Update 1/3/03:  Bath has rejected all offers made by the Washington County District Attorney's office and will take his case to trial, he said.

Update 1/9/03:   Bath was convicted of mistreating animals, intentional mutilation, disfigurement or death of an animal, and faces up to five years in prison when sentenced on March 12.

Bath's attorney, Jeremy Przybyla, disagreed with the ruling.  "(The authorities) didn't have a body," he said.

After he hit the cat, he threw it in a Dumpster.  But authorities never found the cat, and as a result, Przybyla said it can't be proven the cat was actually dead.

Also, Przybyla said because witnesses testified at the day-long trial that the cat had scratched Bath and "primarily" the dogs, hitting the cat doesn't "fit under the definition of cruelty."

The 12-person jury took less than an hour to deliberate.

Jonathan Walters, Bath's nephew, said in his testimony that he overheard Bath telling Walters' grandpa that he put the cat on the ground and hit it with the golf club.

"Jonathan had heard Bath tell his grandpa he hit the cat," Washington County Assistant District Attorney Mark Benson said. "He admitted to police he had hit the cat."

Bath didn't deny hitting the cat and said he though the cat was dead when he put it in the dumpster.

"It was a pretty straight-up case (because of the witnesses)," Benson said. "The twist was we didn't have a body.

"I asked the defendant if he thought the cat was dead (when he put it in the dumpster), and he said 'yes.'"

In the complaint, Bath said his "intentions when he hit the cat was to kill the cat because he did not want it around any longer." He also made comments to an investigator with the Washington County Sheriff's Department that "it's only a stupid cat."

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