Goshen — The victims were cats, not people.

But crushing and torturing them is the kind of crime that shocks the
 conscience, Orange County Court Judge Nicholas DeRosa said yesterday.
That's why he sentenced Michael Melfi, a skinny, baby-faced 19-year-old from
Washingtonville, to the maximum for his role in a cat-killing rampage at the
Blooming Grove Humane Society's animal shelter.

After a trial this summer in Orange County Court, a jury convicted Melfi of
burglary and aggravated animal cruelty, felonies, and criminal mischief and
criminal trespass,  misdemeanors.

He was sentenced yesterday to 2¤ to seven years in state prison. The judge
handed down the same sentence in August to 21-year-old Michael Bornhoeft,
 who also took part in the 2004 rampage.

The third culprit, 20-year-old Terry Ayres of Vails Gate, caught a break after he
pleaded guilty to burglary  and testified against Bornhoeft and Melfi. Ayres got
one to three years in prison.

DeRosa pointed out that a jury convicted Melfi, but he refused to take
responsibility yesterday for the crime.

"It does shock the conscience," DeRosa said. "It is an appalling display of
violence, even though it wasn't directed at human beings."

Melfi plans to appeal.

  "I'm sorry for what happened, but I don't deserve this, Your Honor," he told the
judge.
His lawyer, Alan Joseph, asked DeRosa to sentence Melfi to probation.

"The defendant maintains his innocence. I don't think he should be punished
for that," Joseph told the judge.

DeRosa observed that Melfi's already had a break. In 2005, he pleaded guilty
to misdemeanor assault and got three years' probation. The case was
sealed because Melfi was treated as a youthful offender. He also spent a
year under supervision in Family Court.

After court, his father, whose name is also Michael, called the sentence "over the top."