A Boulder County man who killed a kitten that was chewing on his ailing wife’s oxygen tube has pleaded guilty in return for a deferred sentence that requires him to comply with conditions set by a judge.

Charles Kenneth Corwin, 57, pleaded guilty to one count of aggravated cruelty to animals.

Boulder District Court Judge D.D. Mallard will set the conditions — based on recommendations from probation officers — when Corwin is sentenced May 15.

If Corwin fulfills the conditions for a period of two years, the case will be dismissed, said Carolyn French, spokeswoman for the Boulder County district attorney’s office.

Corwin told police he bashed the cat’s skull repeatedly against a book case and threw it out the door of his trailer after finding the animal biting the oxygen tube on Dec. 11.

His son, Charles Corwin Jr., became angry after learning that Corwin had killed the cat and pulled a knife on his father, Corwin later told deputies.

Boulder County deputies came to the trailer and arrested Corwin Jr. on suspicion of threatening his father with a knife.

Corwin Jr. bonded out of jail.

Two days later, Corwin Jr. shot himself to death in the bathroom of the trailer.

Deputies questioned Corwin more closely about the cat’s death and arrested him after his son’s suicide.

After the arrest, Emily Busick, who identified herself as Corwin’s daughter, wrote a letter defending him to Channel 7 News.

“Charles did not originally plan to injure the cat, merely remove it from the oxygen tube that was keeping his wife alive,” Busick wrote.

“Think about the punishment he has already endured,” Busick wrote. “Charles had to see his barely 21-year-old son be carted away in a body bag. Not only that, but he was left to clean the bathroom where the death occurred.”

Tom McGhee: 303-954-1671 or tmcghee@denverpost.com