A man poured bleach on a stray kitten. Can he be charged with a felony in Ohio?

Alonzo Kyles poured bleach and water on an 8-month-old kitten at his Cleveland apartment complex, injuring the cat's paws and leaving the animal in intensive care for several days.

Kyles was convicted of a fifth-degree felony for abusing a companion animal, such as pets, and sentenced to nine months in prison. Kyles' attorneys argued that he should have faced a misdemeanor instead because the kitten was a stray.

Ohio law increases the penalties for cruelty to companion animals, defined as "any animal that is kept inside a residential dwelling and any dog or cat regardless of where it is kept." But the Eighth District Court of Appeals ruled that the kitten didn't qualify because the cat wasn't "kept" or cared for.

Ohio has banned animal cruelty for more than a century, but later laws allowed prosecutors to charge individuals with a felony for serious physical harm to a companion animal.

Kyles told Cleveland police that he poured bleach on the kitten because he was scared of the cat and could not get it to leave the building. The veterinarian who treated the kitten said the animal behaved as if the cat had been socialized and was not feral, according to court records.

The Cuyahoga County Prosecutor's Office asked the Ohio Supreme Court to reverse the appeals court decision and rule that Kyles' actions were a felony. The justices discussed the case Tuesday and will release a decision later.

Tuesday's hearing turned into a grammar lesson with justices debating the meaning of words, such as "kept" and "regardless," and exhaustive conditional construction.

“You made me read more about grammar than I ever wanted to read," said Justice Pat DeWine, a Republican.

Cuyahoga County Assistant Prosecutor Tasha Forchione argued that increased penalties apply to all cats and dogs, including strays. Kyles' attorney Stephen Hardwick contended that "a companion animal should be someone’s companion," and this kitten was not.

“Can a cat keep itself?” asked Justice Melody Stewart, a Democrat. She offered several hypotheticals, including a cat living in a park whose only companions are squirrels and birds.

“Yes, it could. It grooms itself. It feeds itself," Forchione said. “Any dog or cat is protected. It doesn’t have to be inside a residence.”

Attorneys on both sides of the case wished Ohio lawmakers were clearer when they wrote the statute.

But Hardwick said the words lawmakers wrote have meaning and should be applied to this case. "I don’t think we should assume legislative carelessness."

But DeWine was less generous. “Here, one way or another, the Legislature wasn’t paying attention."

Jessie Balmert is a political reporter for the USA TODAY Network Ohio Bureau, which serves the Columbus Dispatch, Cincinnati Enquirer, Akron Beacon Journal and 18 other affiliated news organizations across Ohio .

This article originally appeared on Cincinnati Enquirer: A man poured bleach on a stray kitten. Can he be charged with a felony in Ohio?