James Leachman was found guilty on all five counts of cruelty to animals.
Those convictions stem from the death of five of his horses on his former ranch south of Billings and represent all five of the charges he faced.
Expert testimony during the trial confirmed that hundreds of other horses were starved and dehydrated as well.
According to Judge Larry Herman, a sentencing date has been set for December 12 at 3 p.m. Leachman faces a maximum penalty of five years of jail time and a fine of $5,000.
Before the trial concluded, proceedings convened at 9 a.m. Tuesday morning when James Leachman's testimony continued with cross examination from the prosecution.
The line of questioning extended to Leachman mostly surrounded his use of leg bands on his horses.
Questions over the role the leg bands played in injuring the horses set the tone for the rest of the day as, at the end of Leachman's testimony, both the prosecution and defense moved into rebuttal cases for the remainder of the morning.
During that time the prosecution recalled several witnesses from earlier in the trial who were eye witnesses of the conditions on the ranch when the injured horses were discovered.
Other key considerations were breached during the rebuttal cases as well, such as Leachman's financial problems and the quality of character displayed by Leachman and other witnesses while events were playing out with the horses in 2010 and 2011, but the conversation inevitably always came back to pictures, videos and testimonies given about the leg bands.
Following a recess for lunch, the trial restarted shortly after at 2 p.m. with instructions for how the jury would proceed with coming to a decision once the case was handed over for deliberation.
The trial then concluded with closing arguments which, once again, mostly focused on the leg bands and if using the bands made Leachman criminally negligent.
"The defendant's failure to care for these horses created significant injuries to these horses," said Yellowstone Deputy County Attorney and prosecuting attorney Ingrid Rosenquist. "Injuries which caused them (the horses) to suffer. Injuries that, without care, created and directly caused the death of four of these five horses."
"In 2006 and 2007 when he decided to start using that banding practice-- had it been reasonable for him to see that those bands would not become the center of his criminal case, do you really think he would have started using them," asked Yellowstone County Public Defender and defense attorney Roberta Drew.
If the jury finds Leachman guilty on all five counts of neglect, he could face the maximum penalty of five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
(KTVQ - Dec 5 2012)
A website called North Horse had some very interesting opinions as to what the punsishment should be to Mr. Leachman:
Speaking of criminals, remember James Leachman? He was the horse breeder who had about 1,000 horses living rough on the range in Montana. After he had to sell his ranch, he just sort of left them. All winter. With no food or water. Some of them had plastic ID bands on their legs that were not loosened as the horses grew, causing horrific injuries. Leachman was eventually convicted of five counts of cruelty to animals, but got off with a $5,000 fine and a few days in jail. To the very end, he denied that anything he had done was abuse, and said that if he could do it all over again, he'd manage the horses in the same way. In his unbelievable, delusional arrogance, he appealed, this time saying that "the horses weren't his." The judge just dismissed that nonsense. I wish the judge would have slapped him with a bigger sentence too, but it doesn't work that way. Dammit, we need some sort of vigilante hero of the horse world who could go tie Leachman to a tree and tighten some plastic bands around that asshole's scrotum.
Earlier:
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