The 11th District Court of Appeals rejected the argument that a volunteer cannot be criminally liable for animal cruelty or neglect. Facts. Jo Ann Brantweiner was charged with 8 counts of companion animal cruelty involving a total of 97 dogs and cats. The animals were kept by a nonprofit organization known as the Animal Rescue…
The 11th District Court of Appeals upheld a number of notable, special sanctions in an animal hoarding case we prosecuted in the Willoughby Municipal Court for the Eastlake Police Department. Facts: Defendant Nadine Betchel operated a loosely organized nonprofit animal rescue operation called the Animal Resource Center in Eastlake, Ohio. Officers executed a search warrant…
Ohio’s COVID 19 “Stay at Home” order does not prevent you from caring for animals. The Ohio Department of Health issued an emergency order effective March 24, 2020 requiring all Ohio citizens to shelter at home to prevent the spread of the coronavirus. But there are exceptions: Paragraph 5(e) permits a person to travel in…
On September 20, 2019, the 11th District Court of Appeals in Ohio held that a sentencing court may order an animal cruelty offender to forfeit horses as a condition of probation without going through the more cumbersome process of a full forfeiture proceeding. The history of this case is complicated. Defendant Bianca Marcellino was convicted…
State v. Akesha Bowman, a case we prosecuted for Animal Charity, the humane society serving Mahoning County. Bowman was charged with two counts of companion animal cruelty for keeping her dog “Sassy,” (renamed “Hershey,”) in a cage filled with urine and fecal waste. The cage was too small. Sores were observed on the top of…
Update on State v. Vicki Cornell, a case we prosecuted along with Prosecutor Rhonda Fisher in the Bryan Municipal Court last year. Cornell, who operated an organization ironically known as “Skinny Little Buddies Animal Rescue,” was convicted of 24 counts of companion animal cruelty relating to the keeping of approximately 48 dogs. Today she was…
State v. Terry Shkurka, a case we prosecuted for the Cleveland Animal Protective League. Shkurka admitted trapping an opossum and then holding the cage down in a rubber tub full of water to drown it. He said he has disposed of nuisance animals in this fashion before, and that sometimes he had to put them back…
State v. Michael Johnson, a case we prosecuted at the request of the Ashland County Humane Society, investigated by Ashland County Dog Warden, Tom Kosht. Johnson was found guilty of two counts of companion animal cruelty for abandoning two dogs in a home without adequate food or water. One died of starvation. The other was…
State v. Filimon Medina, a case we prosecuted for the Medina County SPCA. This is one of the roosters removed from Mr. Medina’s property. It is common practice among cockfighters to remove the combs and wattles of fighting birds so the animals will not bleed excessively in battle, thus weakening them and possibly interfering with…
A vivid reminder that all water is not potable. State v. Brenda Moore, a case we prosecuted for the Humane Society of Greater Dayton and the Montgomery County Animal Resource Center. Brenda Moore was convicted of 7 counts of animal neglect involving 10 goats, one pig, 8 ducks, 13 chickens, 7 rabbits and one dog. The animals…