CONNECTICUT -- One of two local residents accused of failing to provide food and water for a herd of goats in Cornwall was found guilty of 19 charges of cruelty to animals Thursday in Bantam Superior Court.
Michael Hearl is due back in court June 10, when the results of a pre-sentence investigation are set to be delivered, according to court officials.
This was the second trial for Hearl related to these charges. The first was declared a mistrial in March.
At the time, prosecutors and defense attorneys could not agree on continuing Hearl’s trial with a jury of five instead of six members, after Hearl had agreed to waive his rights to the full complement of jurors, according to court documents.
The state seized 74 goats from The Butterfield Farm Co. — which Hearl co-owned along with Tara Bryson, the second person charged in connection with the case — in January 2015, as a series of dead goats were found on the property.
A lack of food and available water for the goats was noted in a series of inspections at the farm, according to past reporting.
Thirteen of the seized goats later found a home on a farm in Bethany, after they were purchased at auction, and some of the goats were sent to a sanctuary in New York. Bryson pleaded guilty to 10 counts of animal cruelty in March under the Alford doctrine, in which a defendant does not admit guilt but concedes there’s enough evidence to secure a conviction at trial. Such pleas result in a finding of guilt by the court.
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Although they lived in a MILLION DOLLAR home,
Connecticut handed them $50,000
in taxpayer money to start a goat milk business(!)
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As a result, she faces up to 10 years in prison, with the possibility of that sentence being suspended after two years served with three years’ probation, according to court documents. Her sentencing hearing is scheduled for June 3.
Bryson’s arrest report shows Connecticut State police found over 203 marijuana plants in her million dollar Newtown home so the charges being dropped down from "cultivation of marijuana" to only "possession less than four ounces" appears to be a lucky break given to wealthy people with connections.
Each count of cruelty to animals, under state statute, carries a maximum penalty of a year in prison and a $1,000 fine.
Hearl and Bryson originally faced 63 charges each of animal cruelty.
(Register Citizen - May 12, 2016)
Earlier:
- Connecticut: Tara Bryson and Michael Hearl are drug dealers (and animal abusers!)
- Connecticut: Tara Bryson, 40, and Michael Hearl, 43, who run a goat milk business left their animals to starve to death
- Connecticut: Dozens of goats found to be sick, drug dealers Tara Bryson, 40, and Michael Hearl, 43, arrested for animal cruelty
- Connecticut: Trial set for animal cruelty case against drug dealers and animal abusers Tara Bryson and Michael Hearl
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