## Facts

- Ernest Massini shot and killed his neighbor’s cat.
- The Commonwealth prosecuted Massini under Penal Code § 941, which criminalized “wilfully and maliciously” killing a “domestic animal of another person.”
- The Statutory Construction Act defined “domestic animal” as “any equine animal, bovine animal, sheep, goat and pig,” unless a statute’s context clearly indicated otherwise.
- The trial court instructed the jury to decide whether the cat was a “domestic animal” under § 941, and the jury returned a guilty verdict.
- Massini appealed, arguing that the statutory definition controlled and did not include cats.

## Issues

1. Whether a cat falls within “domestic animal” for purposes of Penal Code § 941 when a general statutory definition limits “domestic animal” to equine, bovine, sheep, goats, and pigs.
2. Whether a court may submit to the jury an ordinary-meaning definition of a statutory term that the legislature has expressly defined.

## Decision

- The Superior Court of Pennsylvania arrested judgment and discharged Massini.
- The court held that killing a cat was not covered by § 941 because a cat is not included in the controlling statutory definition of “domestic animal.”
- The court ruled that the trial court erred by permitting the jury to apply a dictionary or ordinary meaning rather than the legislature’s definition.
- The court found no contextual indication in § 941 that justified departing from the statutory definition.

## Legal Principles

- When the legislature defines a term used in a statute, courts and juries must apply that definition and may not substitute ordinary or dictionary meanings.
- General statutory definitions apply to later-enacted statutes using the defined term unless the statutory context clearly indicates a different meaning.
- Penal statutes are strictly construed; criminal liability cannot be extended by implication to conduct not plainly covered by the statutory text.
- If the legislature intends to criminalize additional conduct within a defined category, it must do so expressly.

## Conclusion

Because “domestic animal” was statutorily limited to certain listed livestock and did not include cats, the statute did not criminalize the killing of a neighbor’s cat; the conviction was set aside and the defendant was discharged.


Commonwealth v. Massini, 200 Pa. Super. 257, 188 A.2d 816 (Pa. Super. Ct. 1963)