A woman has been sentenced to 90 days in jail for holding down her family’s cat while her daughter stabbed it to death last year in west suburban Elmhurst.
Samantha Palermo | DuPage County state’s attorney’s office
Kelly Palermo, 51, pleaded guilty to one felony count of aggravated animal cruelty on July 26, according to a statement from the DuPage County state’s attorney’s office.
About 8:50 p.m. on June 10, 2015, while at her daughter’s home in the 900 block of South Euclid in Elmhurst, Palermo became angry with the family cat, Zeppelin, prosecutors said.
Kelly Palermo picked up the cat and held it while her 22-year-old daughter, Samantha Palermo, stabbed it several times, prosecutors said.
Kelly Palmermo’s 14-year-old son got Zeppelin away from his mother and called 911, but she took the cat back and held it down while Samantha stabbed it again, eventually killing it, prosecutors said.
Palermo, of the 5900 block of North Ozanam in Chicago, was sentenced Monday to 90 days in the DuPage County Jail, according to prosecutors. She was also banned for life from owning, or living with someone who owns, a companion animal, and ordered to pay a $5,000 fine plus court costs.
“This morning, Kelly Palermo learned that for this heinous act of cruelty, she will spend three months of her life behind bars,” DuPage County State’s Attorney Robert Berlin said in the statement. “While Ms. Palermo took responsibility for her involvement in the death of a family pet, there is nothing that can be done to bring Zeppelin back.”
Samantha Palermo also faces one felony count of aggravated animal cruelty, and her case is pending. She is next scheduled to appear in court Nov. 17.
