Man who starved animals to death receives "multiple letters from family and friends on his behalf"

CALIFORNIA -- Less than two months after starving and dead animals were seized from his property, a Fresno County man admits to animal cruelty.

"Cruelty to an animal is a felony," Judge Gregory Fain said to Gary Long  (aka Gary Charles Long)  Friday morning. "Do you understand the charge?"

Looks like his lawyer advised him to shave the goatee and grow his hair out
so he won't look so much like an anti-establishment, neo-Nazi wannabe.
Typical ploy by defense attorneys. Remember how the "Menendez Boys"
were trotted out in their oxfords and cutesy sweaters during their murder trials?

Leslie Abramson dressed the brothers in oxfords and sweaters to make them
seem less threatening to jury members. She was chastised for frequently
hugging the 'boys' and acting motherly towards them in front of the jury.

 

This is what "defiant" Gary Long really looks like

 

"Yes sir," Long replied.

What's your plea?" the judge asked.

"No contest," Long said.

Long was defiant after his arrest last month, but he quickly changed his tune. He admitted to six counts of animal cruelty Friday, but prosecutors agreed not to send him to prison in exchange for his quick admission. But CPS also took his kid last month, and sheriff's deputies are investigating him for elder abuse as well.

Abandoned hay and empty kennels are all that's left on the Fresno County property where sheriff's deputies found animals living and dying in squalor last month.

Investigators say they found a dead cow and several dead chickens. Rabbits and dogs had no water, and one pig appeared near death until a deputy hosed it down.

The SPCA seized all the animals. But Long's wife told an Action News reporter investigators had it all wrong.

Standing by her man: Brittany Long says they fed the animals
before feeding themselves. She should have been charged, too.

"This is not right," said Brittany Long. "Our animals come first. We, in most cases, feed our animals before we feed ourselves."

A month later, Gary Long admitted cruelty to six animals -- four dogs, the dead cow and the parched pig. But even after his admission, he has plenty of support, and his attorney asked the judge to let long out of jail to go home.

Earn that money, Adrian. I hope you can sleep
soundly at night knowing you did all you could
to get this POS freed.

"He is not a flight risk," said public defender Adrian Dresel-Velasquez. "He is not a safety risk. I have multiple letters from family and friends on his behalf."

Judge Fain denied his request.

Thank you, Judge Fain, for denying this POS

[Who would dare write a letter in support of a criminal who caused untold suffering? Well, it's not so uncommon unfortunately: "Father of molested student talks about his outrage toward seven teachers who supported the rapist"]

The prosecutor called attention to the extreme suffering of the animals, as well as two other criminal cases long could face after the animal cruelty case is resolved.

Investigators believe they may have stumbled upon child endangerment and elder abuse when they raided the property.

 

 

"This deal does not include any other investigations that may be stemming from the residence," said prosecutor Jarrett Cline.

Long will be sentenced next month. He won't go to prison, but he could spend as much as a year in jail, not including what may come up in the other investigations.

(KFSN - Aug 30 2013)

Earlier:

• Wife insists they feed the animals before themselves, but the corposes of animals prove her to be a liar
• This horrid woman should NOT be allowed to breed