Attorney challenges arrest of suspect in cat cruelty case

Published 1:30 am Tuesday, March 31, 2026

An Oak Harbor man accused of causing the deaths of two cats was out on bail last Friday, according to court documents.

Kristian Rokita, a 25-year-old Oak Harbor resident, appeared in Island County Superior Court Friday afternoon in an unusually contentious preliminary hearing.

Rokita’s attorney, Craig Platt of Coupeville, challenged Prosecutor Greg Banks’ request that the judge find probable cause exists to believe Rokita committed the crimes of two counts of animal cruelty in the first degree. He described the severe injuries inflicted on the “kittens” and said a veterinarian opined that blunt force trauma and asphyxiation would have been an “extremely painful” way for the pets to die.

Platt argued the warrantless arrest of Rokita was unconstitutional and illegal because of a lack of probable cause. He said Rokita’s mere presence in the proximity of the crime and law enforcement’s generalized suspicion is insufficient to establish individualized probable cause. Citing a biology class he attended, Platt questioned a veterinarian’s contention that cat toys lodged in the larynxes of both cats was suspicious and a sign that they were forced there.

Also, Rokita denied harming the young cats.

Island County Superior Court Judge Carolyn Cliff, however, ruled that the report by county Animal Control Officer Tammy Esparza established probable cause for the two charges.

While Esparza recommended that Rokita be held on $100,000 bail, Banks asked Cliff to set the bail at $10,000, saying that the injuries to the cats suggested a high level of brutality.

Platt asked the judge to release Rokita on his personal recognizance. He pointed out that Rokita is an active-duty member of the Navy and was recognized by the Chicago Bears football team for his service last year. He was flown home to Chicago, where he was surprised by members of his family before heading to Halas Hall on a “private tour hosted by Hall of Famer and Super Bowl XX champion Dan Hampton,” according to a Bears post on X. He then served as an honorary captain during a game at Soldier Field.

Cliff noted the viciousness of the attack on the cats and set Rokita’s bail at a $10,000 bond or $2,500 cash.

The case against Rokita made regional and even national headlines, although several AI-based platforms inaccurately stated that he was charged. The Island County Prosecutor’s Office reported that charges would likely be filed Tuesday.

Law enforcement on Whidbey has taken the case very seriously. A police officer, a detective and two animal control officers were involved in the investigation, while deputies and at least one NCIS agent was involved in the arrest.

According to a report by Esparza, Oak Harbor police originally responded to Best Friends Veterinary Clinic on Feb. 19 for a report that two 10-month-old cats died under suspicious circumstances. The cats, Francisco and Mila, belonged to Rokita’s live-in girlfriend.

The woman first called the veterinarian to report the mysterious feline deaths, and the veterinarian asked her to bring the bodies in for an exam.

Later, the woman told police she left in the morning and returned to find her kitties dead and that Rokita placed their bodies in a shoe box. Rokita spoke with police and denied harming the cats.

After his girlfriend left in the morning, Rokita said, he heard a crash and the sound of the cats “squealing, gagging and struggling,” the report states. He said he got out of bed and found the cats dead in the living room, with a bar stool knocked over.

During the investigation, Oak Harbor officers realized that the couple’s Larkspur Drive residence is in Island County, so the case was handed over to Esparza, who works in the Island County Sheriff’s Office.

One of the veterinarians found that both cats had rolled pieces of a foil cat toy lodged in their throats; the vet determined that it was “highly unusual for two healthy cats to choke on the same toy at the same time,” the report states.

The veterinarian conducted necropsies the next day and found each cat had foil toys lodged in their larynxes. Two different veterinarians opined that there was no way the cats could have ingested the toys on their own since they would have been in their esophaguses — not larynxes, the report states.

In addition, the necropsy showed that both cats had blood in their abdominal cavities, as well as fractures and lacerations to the liver, hemorrhages on the hearts, spleens, kidneys, lungs and brains; all of the injuries were indicators of blunt force trauma, the report states.

The veterinarians said the deaths were suspicious and could not have been accidents, the report states. The animal control officer received the completed necropsy on March 17. The veterinarian determined that the cause of death for both cats was blunt force trauma and asphyxiation.