Felony charges pled out to one misdemeanor
◼ No jail for horse-hoarder
Sean Garmire/The Times-Standard
Posted: 05/30/2008 01:15:13 AM PDT
Former horse owner Elsie Smith, whose 40 malnourished horses were seized by law enforcement from her Myers Flat property in April, offered a new plea of “no contest” to the charge of animal cruelty Wednesday.
Facing a maximum two-year prison sentence, the 69-year-old Smith accepted a plea deal.
According to court documents, she will now be required to compensate the city for costs of stabling the animals, relinquish all the seized animals and forfeit her rights to care for horses or other equines over the next three years.
The sentence requires Smith to attend counseling classes and perform community service.
After initially signing 30 of her horses over to the county, Smith refused to give up the remaining 10, opting to have them stay with friends and relatives. Smith lost the right to have input on those horses when she signed the agreement, and the horses have since been transferred to the county's care.
According to court documents, the Humboldt County district attorney estimated that the cost incurred for upkeep of the horses was $11,675 as of May 9.
Animal Control Division Lt. Steve Knight said his department is still calculating the costs of keeping the horses.
”We're still putting together those fees and submitting the total package to Elsie and the courts,” Knight said. “It'll be done, hopefully, in a week.”
The total updated estimate will be given to Smith in court during her June 23 supplemental report.
Smith's attorney, Neal Sanders, could not be reached for comment.
A second misdemeanor charge of obstructing a public officer was dropped in the agreement. The charge stemmed from early in the investigation, when the Humboldt County Sheriff's Office first seized 39 horses on her 25-acre property. Officials said Smith hid a horse in a wooded area on her property during the raid. It was found and seized three days later.
The county's Animal Control Division reported Smith was keeping the horses -- studs, mares and colts -- standing knee-deep in manure on deformed and infected hooves. Their coats were matted with mud and lice, and they were said to be malnourished.
Since then, Knight said the animals' coats have been treated for lice and their hooves trimmed. They are even gaining weight, he said.
”Their overall health has improved dramatically,” he said. “It's obvious; you can see it.”
The animals were relocated to the Humboldt County Fairgrounds, the Sheriff's Office farm in Rohnerville and the Fortuna Rodeo Grounds, and many were offered at auction.
Veterinarians had to euthanize two of the horses that would not have recovered, Knight said.
Of the total 24 horses that went up for auction, 20 were purchased. The auction ended with no bids placed on four horses, at least one of which will be given to Heart of the Redwoods Horse Rescue for rehabilitation.
Officials still don't know what to do with the 10 additional horses turned over Wednesday to the county. Knight said they may go up for auction in June, but that is not certain.
”We're getting the 24 horses dealt with now,” Knight said. “We will be looking at placement of the other 10 within the next week or two.”
Sean Garmire can be reached at 441-0514 or sgarmire@times-standard.com.
Showing posts with label Animal Abuse. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Animal Abuse. Show all posts
5.29.2010
JN - Nightmare on Erie Street
◼ Nightmare on Erie Street
by ANDREW EDWARDS
TWENTY-ONE THOUSAND POUNDS OF RAT-INFESTED TRASH have been removed from the driveway of 2504 Erie St., Eureka, the building that used to be known as the Band of Mercy Animal Rescue. The animals are gone but the yard and the inside of the house are still filled to the brim with refuse (earlier this week, junk could be seen literally spilling out of one window).
The owner, John Martin, is considering tearing down a wall of the house so that he can go in with heavy equipment to clear the house out or possibly just demolish the building altogether. His ex-wife, Linda Sue Martin, and Larry Lawson Decker, who together ran the Band of Mercy, are out on bail, living in Eureka. But only now is the story behind the degradation coming out: how an animal shelter went bad and managed to slip through the cracks in county law enforcement for years.
Eight years ago Myra Mintey and her husband moved into the house across the street from Band of Mercy. According to her it was bad back then and steadily got worse until she felt she had to report it to the authorities.
"I would call animal control every single day for months at a time," Mintey said. "It was like pounding your head against a brick wall."
At times, the county responded -- most notably when a videotape made by a neighbor of rats exiting the house through an upstairs window led to the first of several trash cleanups on the property. But the county did nothing to address the real problem: the deplorable living conditions inside the shelter itself.
The most obvious issue was the stench.
"The smell on a warm night got so bad that it was just overpowering," Mintey said. "You couldn't even walk down the street."
According to Richard Hutchison, whose accounting office shares an alley with the Band of Mercy, one tenant refused to move into the apartment above his office because she couldn't handle the smell.
Then there were the animals.
"I never saw animals abused, but I saw sick animals," Mintey said. "The cats always had diarrhea. They always had sores all over them."
The Band of Mercy also had dogs and other animals, including a pig, chained in the front yard. The dogs, which Mintey described as pitbull mixes, would bark at passers-by, causing neighbors to worry they would get out.
"I used to carry a little pipe in my purse, but what would that do against a dog?" Mintey said. "I ended up carrying a can of Mace."
In addition to everything else, automobiles were abandoned in front of the house on numerous occasions.
Neighbors repeatedly asked the county to do something about the shelter, but the answer always came back the same: "Our hands are tied." That answer was reiterated by officials interviewed for this article.
"To go into a private residence we need warrants, court orders," said John Falkenstrom, Humboldt County's agricultural commissioner and head of Animal Control. "My staff are not peace officers, they're public officers. We have to follow a procedure called due process. It's slow, it's cumbersome, and to the public it can be incomprehensible, but it has to be followed."
Head of County Environmental Health Brian Cox echoed that thought.
"There were definite concerns, the rat population for instance, but it's like I said, we weren't invited into the house," Cox said.
Cox and Falkenstrom's claims do not completely jibe with the law. A section of the state penal code titled "Animals in specified places without proper care or attention" empowers animal control officers -- not just police officers -- to go onto private property to seize animals they believe are being abused or neglected. It reads: "When the officer has reasonable grounds to believe that very prompt action is required to protect the health or safety of the animal, the officer shall immediately seize the animal." The statute says nothing about warrants or court orders.
The county's arguments are similar to those made by Eureka animal control after a young female dog was found near death last spring after being forced to spend all of its life in an outdoor cage. Complaints about that property were also made, but to no avail. The dog, named "Phoenix" by those who tried to save its life, later died.
According to Falkenstrom the reason the situation on Erie Street couldn't be dealt with was that Humboldt County doesn't have a "humane officer" -- a specialized animal abuse investigator who would be empowered, much like sheriff's deputies, to enter a building based on probable cause and fully investigate any suspected violations.
The county hasn't had a humane officer for over 10 years. To make matters worse, it couldn't hire one if it wanted to since only humane societies and nonprofit organizations are allowed to employ them.
"To me it's ridiculous," said County Supervisor John Woolley. "We have to examine why that law was written and try to find some group that can combine law enforcement and animal control."
Joan Biordy, an attorney who participated in the Band of Mercy rescue, was critical of the county. "It's a sad commentary that this county's leadership has such disregard for the pain and suffering of innocent animals. My pleas and others went unheeded. Many of those animals had to suffer more than if [the county] had done its job."
Falkenstrom said that nuisance complaints are the lowest priority at animal control.
"Our priorities are bite complaints, dogs on school grounds, dogs harassing individuals. Way down, further down and probably last are noise problems, odor problems," Falkenstrom said, adding there are 640 dog bite complaints in the county each year and only three animal control officers.
One thing appears indisputable: The violations at the Band of Mercy shelter were "egregious," as Falkenstrom put it.
Inside the house and the fenced back yard, human and animal feces were piled up with layers of newspaper reaching as high as six feet in some places, totally covering the floor, burying the sink. The one piece of furniture in the house, a bed, was surrounded by piles almost up to the level of the sleeping surface.
In the back yard, hemmed by massive blackberry hedges, dogs were kept in ramshackle kennels overflowing with filth.
Twenty-five dogs, 45 cats, three turkeys, a rabbit and eight chickens were rescued from the residence, and so far the clean up crews have trapped more than 84 rats.
Of the 25 dogs, only five survive. The rest, beyond hope, were killed by euthanasia.
"The dogs weren't euthanized just because of mange," Miranda said. "They had medical problems, open sores and aggression. As they (Martin and Decker) brought them out they bit at them. I don't know what they were doing to them in there, but it wasn't just neglect."
He said that some of the dogs were so mangy that they had almost no hair at all, and that they were so covered with fleas that it looked like their skins were crawling.
Of the cats, 14 had to be put down, mostly because of the presence of feline AIDS and other illnesses, as well as general bad health.
How could it have gotten like that?
Over the years Band of Mercy Animal Rescue deteriorated into the stuff that an animal lover's nightmares are made of, but it wasn't always like that.
"Linda and those guys (at the Band of Mercy) worked their fingers to the bone and nobody was helping them," said Patricia Shear, formally of For Pets' Sake, a Eureka charity that promoted spaying and neutering pets and worked with Band of Mercy.
Harriet Willard, who was also involved with animal charities in Eureka, said that she knew of times where Martin and Decker had gone without food in order to provide for their animals.
There is a general consensus that Martin always had a soft spot for animals and was compelled to take them in.
"Up until the day she was arrested she probably thought she was doing good," Falkenstrom said.
Mintey spoke of a time when a neighbor's cat had a litter of kittens under their porch and Martin went around the neighborhood trying to collect them and take them to Band of Mercy.
She would also, according to Miranda and others, take in cats she found in Dumpsters behind supermarkets and dogs that she found on the street. No creature was refused, and eventually it got out of control.
"I think they just got senile. They were overwhelmed and there were no contributions. I know it was disgusting, but how many years did she do this before it went bad?" Shear said.
That doesn't seem to hold much water with other members of the animal rescue community, however, or with the neighbors.
"You can chain a child to a bed and feed it too, but what good is that, what kind of quality of life?" Mintey said.
Miranda stressed that whatever Martin and Decker had done in the past, they had broken the law and should pay the price.
"People say `Why get mad at her (Martin), she tried,' but it was not a [shelter], it was an animal dungeon," Miranda said. "It's criminal what they did in there."
© Copyright 2002, North Coast Journal, Inc.
Linda Sue Martin & Donald Decker Lawson - Hoarding, ~100 animals seized, 60 euthanized
◼ link
The rescue of sick and decrepit animals from a home on Erie Street that was operating as the Band of Mercy Animal Rescue is continuing, with only a few cats remaining.
Martin, 56, and Lawson, 66, were arrested on suspicion of felony animal abuse after officials were able to view the horrible conditions the animals were living in.
Since July 15 Shannon Miranda of Miranda's Rescue in Fortuna has retrieved 75 animals from the now condemned home. More than 40 of them had to be euthanized. Miranda said he suspects that more than 80 animals will be removed from the home by the time he's done.
Miranda was accompanied back to the home by Deputy Doug Pool of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department and county Animal Control officials. Pool said that, when he saw the conditions of the animals and the home, he had sufficient cause to arrest Lawson and Martin.
Both Pool and Miranda said that conditions in the house were appalling. They described piles of feces mixed with urine-soaked newspapers as much as 6 feet high in some places. Both said they were almost sick at the sight.
"There was no bathroom," Miranda said. "The toilet, sink and shower were all covered by those newspapers."
Miranda said the cats that remain are becoming hard to catch in his humane traps, because the traps are often set off by rats.
Miranda first started removing animals from the home when he was contacted by Martin, who said she was being evicted. "Over the phone I told her I only had room for eight dogs," Miranda said of a conversation with Martin before he visited the house. When Miranda saw stacks of newspapers soaked with urine and mixed with feces, 6 feet high in some places, he contacted the sheriff's department. Miranda said there was no bathroom in the home and Martin & Lawson were living in the same conditions as the animals.
Animals removed from the home are taken to Ferndale Veterinary and examined by veterinarian Kevin Silver. Of the animals euthanized, the cats all had either feline leukemia or feline AIDS, and the dogs all had extreme mange.
Miranda is billed for the veterinary work on the Band of Mercy animals under a separate account at Ferndale Veterinary, and he is attempting to find if the county is obligated to pay for any portion of it.
Reports that the Band of Mercy was at least partly funded by the Humboldt Area Foundation are true, but Barbara O'Neal, director of programs for the foundation, said the money the foundation gave to the rescue was at the request of donors' wills.
The $3,350 dollars given to the rescue last year was distributed by the foundation outside of its normal process for awarding grants -- a process which includes checking out a grant recipient.
But because the money was a direct donation tied to conditions stated in a will, no check on the recipient was required or made, she said.
Update 7/31/02:
Martin & Lawson plead not guilty at their first court appearance. They will be back in court for a preliminary hearing on August 9th.
1 of the dogs named Barney, rescued from the home was adopted.
Update 8/24/02:
The preliminary hearing for Marin & Lawson has been rescheduled for August 29th. Both face charges of felony animal abuse after Humboldt County sheriff's deputies witnessed the condition that nearly 100 animals, mostly dogs and cats, were living in at their home. Off the nearly 100 animals taken from the home, more than 60 had to be euthanized for aggression and/or medical conditions.
Update 9/14/02:
A shouting match between Bill Cater, Lawson's lawyer and Prosecutor Allison Jackson got the attention of all in the courtroom before the 2nd day of preliminary hearings official began over evidence. Superior Court Judge Timothy Cissna quickly brought order to the court.
Prosecutor Jackson called Shannon Miranda to the stand to describe the condition of each dog he removed from the home a week before Martin & Lawson were arrested. Miranda was able to recall the condition of 14 of the 19 dogs he removed. Each of the dogs suffered from mange and fleas and some had more severe medical conditions such as ear hematomas. After objections from the defense questioning Miranda's veterinary expertise, Jackson had him explain his vast, lifetime experience with helping animals.
Jackson then asked Miranda to describe the condition of the house when he was removing the initial 19 dogs.
"The front (yard) wasn't that bad, it was fairly clean," Miranda said. "But there was a stench you can't imagine." Miranda said from the front yard he could see a trail of newspapers and feces everywhere as Lawson was bringing caged dogs out of the house.
"I was just blown away," Miranda said. "Feces was everywhere, I wouldn't go in." Miranda said along with the dogs he took nine chickens and a rabbit.
Jackson provided Miranda with 101 pictures and photocopies of pictures and asked him to describe what he saw in each one. The pictures were of animals before they were taken to Miranda's Rescue, animals that were brought to the rescue, the Erie Street home and even some of bags full of animals that had already been euthanized.
Miranda said he didn't immediately report the condition the animals were living in to authorities because he was in a state of shock.
Cater was the first defense lawyer to begin questioning Miranda but was only able to squeeze in a few questions before court adjourned for the weekend. Cater asked what determined if an animal was to be euthanized and Miranda told him age, aggression, health, physical and emotional problems were all taken into consideration.
Miranda said he tried to save each animal, even going against veterinarian suggestions in some cases. He said that when the decision to euthanize a dog was made he would hold it, pet it and talk to it until it died.
Unless a plea bargain is struck, Martin & Lawson charged with 2 counts of felony animal abuse each will go to trial.
The next court appearance is scheduled for October 16th. Martin and Lawson remain free on their own recognizance.
Update 1/7/03:
Martin and Lawson were given a re-arraignment hearing on September 16th because additional charges have been brought against the couple. But the 2 did not attend a pretrial hearing on November 7th in which a possible plea agreement was discussed.
Judge Cissna handed down a $25,00 bench warrant for both Lawson & Marin that will be issued if the 2 don't show up for the next pretrial set for November 13th.
Judge Cissna stated the arrangement was that both Lawson and Martin will be charged with 1 felony count of animal abuse each and will see no immediate jail time. A new trial date of February 18th was tentatively set.
Of the 15 surviving animals taken to Miranda's Animal Rescue and nursed back to health all but one remains in his care. The rest have been adopted.
Update 2/20/03:
Martin & Lawson pleaded guilty in Superior Court to one count of felony animal abuse each.
The case against Lawson and Martin went to the Humboldt County Probation Department for a pre sentence report.
They're both due back in court March 19 for possible sentencing. Deputy District Attorney Allison Jackson said both will see no less than five years on felony probation. Martin and Lawson will also undergo psychological evaluations and must comply with whatever counseling is recommended by the evaluator. Prison time is possible but Jackson thinks that it is unlikely. Jail time or community service work is also a possibility.
The couple has been free on their own recognizance since just after their arrest.
Reference:
The Times Standard
The rescue of sick and decrepit animals from a home on Erie Street that was operating as the Band of Mercy Animal Rescue is continuing, with only a few cats remaining.
Martin, 56, and Lawson, 66, were arrested on suspicion of felony animal abuse after officials were able to view the horrible conditions the animals were living in.
Since July 15 Shannon Miranda of Miranda's Rescue in Fortuna has retrieved 75 animals from the now condemned home. More than 40 of them had to be euthanized. Miranda said he suspects that more than 80 animals will be removed from the home by the time he's done.
Miranda was accompanied back to the home by Deputy Doug Pool of the Humboldt County Sheriff's Department and county Animal Control officials. Pool said that, when he saw the conditions of the animals and the home, he had sufficient cause to arrest Lawson and Martin.
Both Pool and Miranda said that conditions in the house were appalling. They described piles of feces mixed with urine-soaked newspapers as much as 6 feet high in some places. Both said they were almost sick at the sight.
"There was no bathroom," Miranda said. "The toilet, sink and shower were all covered by those newspapers."
Miranda said the cats that remain are becoming hard to catch in his humane traps, because the traps are often set off by rats.
Miranda first started removing animals from the home when he was contacted by Martin, who said she was being evicted. "Over the phone I told her I only had room for eight dogs," Miranda said of a conversation with Martin before he visited the house. When Miranda saw stacks of newspapers soaked with urine and mixed with feces, 6 feet high in some places, he contacted the sheriff's department. Miranda said there was no bathroom in the home and Martin & Lawson were living in the same conditions as the animals.
Animals removed from the home are taken to Ferndale Veterinary and examined by veterinarian Kevin Silver. Of the animals euthanized, the cats all had either feline leukemia or feline AIDS, and the dogs all had extreme mange.
Miranda is billed for the veterinary work on the Band of Mercy animals under a separate account at Ferndale Veterinary, and he is attempting to find if the county is obligated to pay for any portion of it.
Reports that the Band of Mercy was at least partly funded by the Humboldt Area Foundation are true, but Barbara O'Neal, director of programs for the foundation, said the money the foundation gave to the rescue was at the request of donors' wills.
The $3,350 dollars given to the rescue last year was distributed by the foundation outside of its normal process for awarding grants -- a process which includes checking out a grant recipient.
But because the money was a direct donation tied to conditions stated in a will, no check on the recipient was required or made, she said.
Update 7/31/02:
Martin & Lawson plead not guilty at their first court appearance. They will be back in court for a preliminary hearing on August 9th.
1 of the dogs named Barney, rescued from the home was adopted.
Update 8/24/02:
The preliminary hearing for Marin & Lawson has been rescheduled for August 29th. Both face charges of felony animal abuse after Humboldt County sheriff's deputies witnessed the condition that nearly 100 animals, mostly dogs and cats, were living in at their home. Off the nearly 100 animals taken from the home, more than 60 had to be euthanized for aggression and/or medical conditions.
Update 9/14/02:
A shouting match between Bill Cater, Lawson's lawyer and Prosecutor Allison Jackson got the attention of all in the courtroom before the 2nd day of preliminary hearings official began over evidence. Superior Court Judge Timothy Cissna quickly brought order to the court.
Prosecutor Jackson called Shannon Miranda to the stand to describe the condition of each dog he removed from the home a week before Martin & Lawson were arrested. Miranda was able to recall the condition of 14 of the 19 dogs he removed. Each of the dogs suffered from mange and fleas and some had more severe medical conditions such as ear hematomas. After objections from the defense questioning Miranda's veterinary expertise, Jackson had him explain his vast, lifetime experience with helping animals.
Jackson then asked Miranda to describe the condition of the house when he was removing the initial 19 dogs.
"The front (yard) wasn't that bad, it was fairly clean," Miranda said. "But there was a stench you can't imagine." Miranda said from the front yard he could see a trail of newspapers and feces everywhere as Lawson was bringing caged dogs out of the house.
"I was just blown away," Miranda said. "Feces was everywhere, I wouldn't go in." Miranda said along with the dogs he took nine chickens and a rabbit.
Jackson provided Miranda with 101 pictures and photocopies of pictures and asked him to describe what he saw in each one. The pictures were of animals before they were taken to Miranda's Rescue, animals that were brought to the rescue, the Erie Street home and even some of bags full of animals that had already been euthanized.
Miranda said he didn't immediately report the condition the animals were living in to authorities because he was in a state of shock.
Cater was the first defense lawyer to begin questioning Miranda but was only able to squeeze in a few questions before court adjourned for the weekend. Cater asked what determined if an animal was to be euthanized and Miranda told him age, aggression, health, physical and emotional problems were all taken into consideration.
Miranda said he tried to save each animal, even going against veterinarian suggestions in some cases. He said that when the decision to euthanize a dog was made he would hold it, pet it and talk to it until it died.
Unless a plea bargain is struck, Martin & Lawson charged with 2 counts of felony animal abuse each will go to trial.
The next court appearance is scheduled for October 16th. Martin and Lawson remain free on their own recognizance.
Update 1/7/03:
Martin and Lawson were given a re-arraignment hearing on September 16th because additional charges have been brought against the couple. But the 2 did not attend a pretrial hearing on November 7th in which a possible plea agreement was discussed.
Judge Cissna handed down a $25,00 bench warrant for both Lawson & Marin that will be issued if the 2 don't show up for the next pretrial set for November 13th.
Judge Cissna stated the arrangement was that both Lawson and Martin will be charged with 1 felony count of animal abuse each and will see no immediate jail time. A new trial date of February 18th was tentatively set.
Of the 15 surviving animals taken to Miranda's Animal Rescue and nursed back to health all but one remains in his care. The rest have been adopted.
Update 2/20/03:
Martin & Lawson pleaded guilty in Superior Court to one count of felony animal abuse each.
The case against Lawson and Martin went to the Humboldt County Probation Department for a pre sentence report.
They're both due back in court March 19 for possible sentencing. Deputy District Attorney Allison Jackson said both will see no less than five years on felony probation. Martin and Lawson will also undergo psychological evaluations and must comply with whatever counseling is recommended by the evaluator. Prison time is possible but Jackson thinks that it is unlikely. Jail time or community service work is also a possibility.
The couple has been free on their own recognizance since just after their arrest.
Reference:
The Times Standard
JN - Animal abuse trial
◼ Animal abuse trial
Animal abuse trial
The operators of the Band of Mercy animal shelter will have their day in court.
On Monday, Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Timothy Cissna declared that the case against Linda Sue Martin and Larry Decker Lawson was sufficient to justify a trial.
Martin and Lawson are charged with felony animal abuse for mismanaging the Band of Mercy Animal Rescue. In July, it was discovered that nearly 100 animals -- mostly dogs and cats -- were being kept in filthy conditions.
The decision came after testimony from Shannon Miranda of Miranda Rescue in Fortuna, and Deputy Doug Pool of the Humboldt County Sheriff's office, both of whom assisted in clearing out the Eureka house that Band of Mercy operated in.
The next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 25. Meanwhile Martin and Lawson remain free on their own recognizance.
Animal abuse trial
The operators of the Band of Mercy animal shelter will have their day in court.
On Monday, Humboldt County Superior Court Judge Timothy Cissna declared that the case against Linda Sue Martin and Larry Decker Lawson was sufficient to justify a trial.
Martin and Lawson are charged with felony animal abuse for mismanaging the Band of Mercy Animal Rescue. In July, it was discovered that nearly 100 animals -- mostly dogs and cats -- were being kept in filthy conditions.
The decision came after testimony from Shannon Miranda of Miranda Rescue in Fortuna, and Deputy Doug Pool of the Humboldt County Sheriff's office, both of whom assisted in clearing out the Eureka house that Band of Mercy operated in.
The next hearing is scheduled for Sept. 25. Meanwhile Martin and Lawson remain free on their own recognizance.