Thursday, October 6, 2011

Animal Abuse: Verdict Update!


Since getting kicked off of the jury last week for being logical, speaking my mind and standing up for the jury pool, I have been on verdict watch! The trial finally ended and yesterday the 6 "lucky" jurors handed down their verdict.


I am VERY happy to announce:

Defendant #1, charged with First Degree Animal Neglect and First Degree Animal Abuse GUILTY on BOTH counts!

Defendant #2, charged with Second Degree Animal Neglect GUILTY!

Here are some excerpts from today's newspaper article:
Animal Control Deputy Lee Bartholomew testified the animal was one of the worst examples of neglect he had ever seen — telling Circuit Court jurors he had never seen a horse's neck bones stick out before.
According to court documents, Bartholomew described the horse as “literally nothing but a skeleton with skin on it.” Veterinarians estimated Grace had been starved for three to six months. She weighed about 560 pounds, almost 500 pounds underweight.
In closing statements Wednesday, Douglas County District Attorney Jaime Carmichael held up numerous pictures of Grace for the jury. She pointed to the starved horse and told jurors Dicke saw the animal daily and watched her decline for several months without helping. 
The women's attorneys each blamed the opposite defendant in the joint trial.
The maximum penalty for both first-degree animal abuse and animal neglect is one year in jail and $6,500. The maximum penalty for second-degree animal neglect is six months in jail and $2,500. 
Douglas County Circuit Judge George Ambrosini could bar the women from owning domestic animals for five years 

The poor horse. I'm glad I didn't have to sit through all of this hearing the sad facts. And I'm glad about the verdict. Sure, I judged solely on appearance, but come on - they looked guilty as hell!


6 comments:

  1. Glad they were charged! I have some neighbors who I don't think feed their horses in winter..it's terrible.

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  2. So, somehow I missed your jury duty recap and had to scroll down to read about it. You were awesome! Glad the verdict went the way it did... hope the judge goes for the maximum penalty.

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  3. Oh thank God! I was actually going to google the case if you didn't post! I seriously don't understand some people!

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  4. Good... I'm glad justice will be served.

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  5. I hope these people have to spend the maximum sentence in jail. Sadly, I'm sure they won't, but these animal abuse cases are slowly making their way into the headlines and letting people know that animal abuse will not be tolerated!!!!!!!!!!

    Poor horses.....

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  6. Too bad their sentence didn't include being slowly starved as well. I can't stand mean people!

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