Joanie Osgood was previously found guilty of three counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty by a Circuit Court judge but appealed, resulting in a jury trial in Merrimack County Superior Court.
After the state rested its case Wednesday afternoon, the defense asked the judge to dismiss the charges, arguing there was no evidence that Osgood, 58, was aware of the poor conditions at the farm, or that she had custody of the horses and was responsible for their care.
Prosecutor Cristina Brooks objected, asserting there was ample evidence that Osgood owned the horses. Just because the farm owner had sold horses to recoup unpaid board in the past, there was no evidence such a deal had been struck in this case. Osgood accepted a search warrant from police and did not refuse it, on the grounds that she didn’t own the animals.
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| PUBLIC DEFENDER TIM LANDRY, right, shows former Northfield Police Detective Jennifer Adams a transcript of the interview she conducted with his client Joanie Osgood focusing the jury on the fact that Osgood said five times during the questioning that she did not own the horses that the state charges were abused. (BEA LEWIS/CITIZEN) |
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| Paradis testifies to the judge to the condition the horses were in when she received them. |
“This was a 90-year-old man who obviously didn’t operate the farm the way he should have,” Nicolosi said, referring to farm owner Bert Southwick, who died in February 2015 at age 91.
Osgood was aware that the stallions never left their stalls, and that the lack of exercise and socialization was harmful to their well-being. There were ‘reasonable inferences’ that Osgood was at the farm around the time police began investigating cruelty allegations and was aware of the conditions, the judge said.
Defense Attorney Tim Landry asked what time frame the judge was basing her ruling on.
The judge cited the testimony by former Northfield Police Detective Sgt. Jennifer Adams, who recounted that Osgood admitted that conditions at the farm had “always been bad.”
The jury deliberated for about an hour and a half without reaching a verdict on Wednesday, and are scheduled to resume this morning.
If the jury returns guilty verdicts, Prosecutor Cristina Brooks could ask the trial judge to impose a stiffer sentence than handed down by Franklin circuit court Judge Edward Gordon, or ask that Gordon’s sentence stand.
On Wednesday, Teresa Paradise, the founder and executive director of Live and Let Live Farm, a non-profit rescue group that specializes in rehabilitating and re-homing rescued or surrendered farm animals, especially horses, took the witness stand.
She told the jury the three stallions rescued from the Southwick Farm had never been trained to lead, had experienced little contact with humans or other horses, and were suffering from both internal and external parasites. One was carrying such an intestinal worm load that he was threatening to colic, a digestive condition that can prove fatal. Their muscles were atrophied from being confined for years without any exercise.
Harold Kelley of Laconia, who testified he bartered 28 hours of work a month at the farm in exchange for the board for his own horses, said he was at the property nearly daily and helped Southwick out whenever he could, but stressed that he was never the caretaker of the property.
“I was not the caretaker. I worked to work off my board,” he said.
After Southwick’s sister moved into a nursing home, Kelley said, he began helping Bert with his books by entering farm income and expenses in a computer program that produced a yearly report that was given to a commercial income tax preparer.
Kelley said he also produced invoices for Southwick when board bills were in arrears. One invoice showed to the jury indicated that Osgood owed $16,205 and a second $17,405. The invoices were dated 201, the year Osgood stopped regularly coming to the farm following the tragic death of her son.
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| JOANIE OSGOOD, LEFT, stands as her Public Defender Tim Landry asks Judge Diane Nicolosi to dismiss the charges arguing the state failed to prove that Osgood owned the abused horses or was responsible for their care. The judge denied the request and sent the case to the jury. (BEA LEWIS/CITIZEN) |
Asked whether Southwick was able to make any money by charging just $30 a month to board a horse, Kelley replied, “if you knew Bert, Bert was Bert. He cut his own hay and bought feed in bulk,” before concluding, “no.”
Under pointed questioning by Landry, Kelley said he understood that with some 18 horses being kept in the dilapidated barn, the person responsible could have been charged with 18 separate counts of animal cruelty.
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| They had to tear the rotting wood apart to free the horses |
“Do you think Bert should have been charged?” Landry inquired.
“He was the property owner,” Kelley responded.
(Laconia Citizen - May 11, 2016)
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