Malcolm attorney requests charges be dropped
by Heather Muller, the Eureka Reporter 12/13/2006
A flurry of pre-trial motions were filed Monday by Timothy Noal Gray, the defense attorney representing Trinity County animal abuse suspects John and Stacy Malcolm — the most sweeping of which requests that the court drop 31 of the 42 felony charges pending against the Malcolms.
In all, three motions were filed: one seeking to set aside charges stemming from conduct alleged to have occurred prior to May 2006; another to sever the Malcolms’ trial from that of alleged co-conspirator Roger Zampatti; and the last to delay the start of the trial until Gray can arrange for expert testimony.
In the first, Gray argued that no evidence had been presented at the Malcolms’ Oct. 11 preliminary hearing to substantiate charges against them that any abuse or neglect had occurred prior to June or July of 2006.
Gray said the first evidence that a crime had even occurred came July 28, when Steve Frick, a U.S. Forest Service law enforcement agent, received information that barrels containing dead dogs had been found on South Fork Mountain near Mad River.
“The information just states the same allegation 41 times, listing the same general dates of March 15, 2005, to August 10, 2006,” The motion stated. “Testimony was only given that included that dates of June 20, 2006, to August 24, 2006. The only evidence produced at the preliminary hearing that mentions a date of March 2005 was that Stacy Malcolm, a defendant, received from Ms. Bugenig a receipt, dated March 2005, for the dogs and kennels.”
Gray stated, “This is not proof or evidence that there was animal cruelty that started that day.”
For those and other reasons, Gray stated, he asked the court to dismiss any counts alleged to have occurred prior to May 2006, “or that 31 of the 41 counts be stricken from the information.”
Trinity County Deputy District Attorney Eric Heryford said he wasn’t particularly concerned about Gray’s filings.
“These are standard defense motions filed before every trial,” Heryford said. “My position is that it was a preliminary hearing. There was a fairly low threshold of what people have to present, and it wouldn’t make sense for us to show our whole hand.”
In the third motion, Gray asked the court to delay the start of the trial until the end of March. He said he had been trying to enlist a veterinarian to testify, but because of the pre-trial publicity surrounding the case he had not had any luck.
“Now no vets want to get involved in this,” Gray said. “I don’t want a vet to exonerate anybody, but I want one to objectively look at the facts.”
Pre-trial motions are expected to begin Jan. 2 in the Trinity County Courthouse, but Heryford conceded that the trial might not get under way until at least April.
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