A phone tree was unnecessary. What was needed was giving Lewis a 50/50
chance (i.e., full choke or modified).

Judge Orders House Arrest for Lewis, the Attack Cat

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By AVI SALZMAN
Published: June 20, 2006

Fears of a death sentence for Lewis, the black and white cat from
Fairfield, Conn., whose attacks on people nearly sent his owner to
jail, proved to be unfounded today, as a judge imposed the feline form
of house arrest.

Lewis's owner, Ruth Cisero, was ordered by Judge Patrick Carroll of
Bridgeport Superior Court to keep her cat confined - either in her
townhouse or in a cage - for two years and to perform 50 hours of
community service. If Ms. Cisero complies with the conditions of her
probation, the charge of reckless endangerment for failing to control
her cat will be cleared from her record.

Lewis will also keep his claws; the judge refused a victim's request to
have them removed.

Ms. Cisero found herself in court for the fifth time on cat-related
matters because an animal control officer issued a summons after the
cat, which had already been under a restraining order from a previous
attack, escaped from the house and attacked a neighbor.

Judge Carroll placed the blame squarely on Ms. Cisero, not the six-toed
cat that wandered into her house on a rainy night five years ago.

"Clearly this is not a case about a cat," he said. "It's a case about
the rights of innocent people to feel safe in their neighborhood."

He added, "It's not up to unsuspecting victims to protect themselves
from that animal."

Lewis has been involved in six attacks, only three of which were
reported, said Charles Stango, the assistant state's attorney who
prosecuted the case. Among the victims was Donna Greenstein, an Avon
saleswoman from Fairfield who was dropping off a brochure for a
customer near Ms. Cisero's home in January 2004 when Lewis approached
her. The cat was purring, she said.

"It appeared friendly," she said. "Then it leaped on my leg."

Ms. Greenstein said the cat bit and clawed her, leaving four holes in
her leg. She ended up suing Ms. Cisero, eventually settling the case
for an undisclosed sum.

Ms. Greenstein said today that she was glad Lewis had been spared
execution.

"I was fine as long as he stayed in the house," she said.

After an attack in December, a restraining order was issued, limiting
the number of hours Lewis could spend outside. In February, he slipped
out again when he was supposed to be locked inside and attacked another
neighbor.

Mr. Stango told the judge today that Ms. Cisero's neighbors had
organized a phone tree to alert one another when Lewis was out of the
house.

After the hearing, Ms. Cisero said she was relieved that her cat, which
has been featured in People magazine and has a page on MySpace.com, had
been spared and that she viewed her community service as a way to give
something back to the people who supported her during her recent legal
problems.