A 44-year-old transient was convicted of animal cruelty for bludgeoning an elephant seal pup to death near downtown San Diego.
A jury found Roy Lee Miller guilty of cruelty to endangered and protected creatures on Friday, according to the city clerk’s office. He faces eight years in prison at his Jan. 15 sentencing.
At Miller’s preliminary hearing, witness Mark Balentine testified that Miller believed the animal “needed to be put out of its misery.”
Balentine said last February, he and Miller were drinking a bottle of vodka and were extremely drunk on Spanish Landing when they encountered the seal.
They heard its squawking, which Balentine described as “a baby screaming.” Miller then took a rock and repeatedly hit the seal over the head, killing it.
A marine biologist who examined the seal after its death noted substantial bruising on the seal’s head, and at least seven fractures to its skull.
The defense maintained Miller wanted to stop the animal’s suffering by killing it.
