Judge to consider dismissing the remaining charges.

Now, just how DID evidence in an ongoing court case end up in a box labeled with the county employees' boyfriend's address on it?

Dismissal of horse charges considered
Saturday, May 31, 2008
By Steven Hepker
shepker@citpat.com -- 768-4923

A judge will be asked to dismiss the criminal neglect case against two Grass Lake horse farmers just days before the June 16 trial.

Circuit Judge Chad Schmucker agreed Friday to consider defense motions to dismiss the cases against Turn-3 Ranch owner James Henderson and farm manager Matthew Mercier on June 13.

Schmucker earlier tossed all felonies against the men and Circuit Judge Thomas Wilson ruled in a civil case that Jackson County must pay for 69-plus horses it seized and sold.

Defense attorneys Michael Dungan and Ronald Fabian will seek to dismiss the remaining misdemeanor count based on evidence Jackson County Animal Control apparently lost, and on allegations the search warrant was based partly on lies by a witness.

Remove false statements that allowed a search of the farm on March 20, 2007, and the criminal case crumbles, Dungan said.

Fabian said Animal Control officials admit most of the evidence he is seeking is lost, or at least not in the county's possession.

Among the missing evidence is a dry-erase board upon which Mercier kept track of medications and treatments for various horses.

"Imagine how I would use that in a jury trial," Fabian said.

Schmucker said he will move forward based on a June 18 trial date. Because animal neglect is a misdemeanor, the trial will require six jurors and two alternates, rather than a dozen jurors, he said.

Assistant Prosecutor Jerard Jarzynka said the trial will take about a week.

The trial could be put on hold indefinitely if the Michigan Court of Appeals agrees to hear appeals by Jackson County prosecutors in recent rulings by Wilson and Schmucker.

©2008 Jackson Citizen Patriot / Michigan Live. All Rights Reserved.

So, where is the rest of the missing Turn 3 Ranch property? Maybe you should be checking your county employees' friends and families homes and barns, Mr. Prosecutor. Amazing where valuable "evidence" ends up.