The trial regarding Joseph Petcka brutally killing the cat belonging to his ex-girlfriend has gone underway - and the minor leaguer is claiming self-defense.

His lawyer says former minor league pitcher Joseph Petcka planned Monday to claim he acted in self-defense in the alleged killing of his girlfriend's cat.

The 205-pound Petcka is accused of bludgeoning the 7 1/2-pound Norman last year in his girlfriend's Greenwich Street apartment, the New York Post reported Tuesday.

Petcka, 37, was set to go on trial Tuesday in Manhattan on charges of felony animal cruelty. Petcka maintains Norman assaulted him.

My client reacted to the attack of a cat, which under the law is allowable, lawyer Charles Hochbaum told the Post.

Kermani told the jury: "The defendant, in a fit of anger and rage, beat a defenseless animal to death."

"The defendant killed Norman simply because he was an angry, jealous and drunken bully."

Petcka is a former Mets minor-league pitcher who now acts and waits tables for a living, the Post reported. Original photo here. (UPI contributed to this story.)