Evidence, schmevidence.

So the prosecution "loses" evidence that hinders the case against the defendants, such as health records that show the horses were cared for ... but insinuates that they have "new" evidence against the owner and manager of Turn 3 Ranch, 15 months after the seizure?

Something doesn't quite settle right.

Dismissal request is denied
Saturday, June 07, 2008
By Steven Hepker
shepker@citpat.com -- 768-4923

James Henderson never visited his herd of horses near Grass Lake in the first quarter of 2007, leaving daily operations to manager Matthew Mercier, Henderson's lawyer said.

Defense attorney Michael Dungan asked Circuit Judge Chad Schmucker Friday to dismiss the remaining misdemeanor neglect charge because Henderson was an absentee owner.

"We already know what the outcome will be,'' Dungan said of the June 16 trial, citing Schmucker's recent dismissal of felony animal torture charges against the two men.

Schmucker denied the motion, saying he did not think state law gives him authority to dismiss the misdemeanor.

Jerrold Schrotenboer, appellate attorney for Jackson County Prosecutor Hank Zavislak, said Dungan is putting the cart before the horse.

"Do we really know the outcome?'' he asked. "He is assuming there will be no extra evidence at trial, and we do have more.''

Another hearing is scheduled Friday, just three days before the trial.

Dungan and Ronald Fabian, counsel for Mercier, will again seek a dismissal, this time based on allegations Jackson County Animal Control lost evidence seized from the Turn-3 Ranch in March 2007.

Fabian said the evidence included veterinary and feed records and a dry-erase board Mercier used in treating individual horses.

Schrotenboer, meanwhile, plans to file a motion for Schmucker to interpret the meaning of animal ownership in state law before the trial.

"We hold that the owner is free-standing. It doesn't matter if the owner has charge or custody,'' Schrotenboer said.

The misdemeanor count alleges each defendant "failed to provide an animal with adequate care.'' The misdemeanor alludes to 66 horses that were seized and eventually sold.

Prosecutors initially charged the men with felony torture for each of three horses. Schmucker in April tossed the felonies for lack of evidence.

Schrotenboer on Friday added the three horses to the 66 in the misdemeanor case because their medical conditions were detailed by the county.

In his motion, Dungan said Henderson was not at the farm from Jan. 1 to March 20, 2007, because he is probation agent in Ann Arbor and lectures nationally on domestic violence.

Defense attorneys also complained prosecutors did not specify which horses were neglected and how.

The trial is scheduled for 15 months after Animal Control took action on Turn-3. It could be delayed another year or more if the Court of Appeals takes up the case.

Prosecutors appealed Schmucker's ruling on the felony charges, as well as a ruling by Circuit Judge Thomas Wilson. A decision to hear the appeal likely would stay the trial until 2009.

Wilson, who is handling the civil side of the case, ruled in May that District Judge Joseph Filip should not have ordered Henderson to forfeit his herd.

Wilson returned the case to Filip with instructions to determine how much the county owes Henderson for his horses, including foals sold with their mothers.

The county sold the animals at auctions for about $50,000. Henderson said they were worth 10 times that.

Also Friday, Fabian said a civil rights attorney has been contacted regarding a potential federal suit alleging the county violated the defendants' constitutional rights in some manner.

He told Schmucker the case will ultimately cost Jackson County more than $1 million.

Jackson Citizen Patriot, Michigan Live. All Rights Reserved.

Apparently "evidence" is only important to keep track of if it makes the prosecutors look good.