We'll all be there.

Update on the outcome of the hearing:

Horse farm defendants allowed to be at auction

Friday, November 02, 2007
By Kristin Longley
klongley@citpat.com -- 768-4917

A judge on Thursday denied a motion to ban two men accused of neglecting their horses from attending a livestock auction.

The last of 84 horses forfeited to Jackson County will be sold Sunday at the Michigan State University Pavilion.

The prosecutor argued that Matthew Mercier and James Henderson Jr., who are charged with three counts each of felony animal torture, should not be able to attend the public auction, fearing they would intimidate potential buyers. Witnesses testified that the defendants have been following up with buyers after the horses are sold.

Circuit Judge Chad Schmucker said the defendants can attend the auction, but prohibited them from approaching Animal Control officers and witnesses who ask to be added to a "no-contact list,'' and banned them from purposely disseminating personal information about Animal Control officers online.

The judge then set aside Animal Control officers' personal-protection orders against the defendants, saying they never should have been entered. Defense attorneys argued that the orders, which were based on reports of alleged stalking and intimidation, do not meet proper criteria and are "nothing but a creature of hysteria.''

Schmucker said the case has generated an unusual amount of rancor and interest by supporters on both sides. Defense attorney Ronald Fabian said the case is "out of control.''

Mercier and Henderson are scheduled to stand trial in Circuit Court early next year on the felony charges.

Animal Control agents seized the horses in March and took control of the Grass Lake Township farm based on reports of unsafe facilities and malnourished horses. The horses were later forfeited to Jackson County by District Judge Joseph Filip, and most have been sold.

Henderson appealed the civil ruling, and the case is pending.

©2007 Jackson Citizen Patriot
©2007 Michigan Live. All Rights Reserved.

There is still a chance that these horses -- although by the end of the weekend they'll have all been sold to new owners -- will be returned to their former owners. If the defendants are found not guilty of the felony torture charges (which I have no doubt that they should be found innocent, for torture implies intentional harm), the horses should be returned to them. Will the new owners receive compensation for what they have paid for the horses, and what they put into them from now until the appeal is heard?