On Thursday, Lee Edward Oakes Jr., 33, and Jerelyn Aymarie Sutter, 27, had a preliminary hearing in Albemarle General District Court before a small but focused crowd of animal rights activists clad in T-shirts, some of which read “#justiceforprofit.”
“Profit,” one activist said, was the name given to a pig that was allegedly stolen from the Charlottesville-Albemarle SPCA in July and subsequently killed. A release from the Berkmar Drive shelter said animal control officers delivered the farm pig to the shelter for temporary hold on July 3, but that it was stolen from the facility after hours. The theft “resulted in the death” of the pig, the statement read.
Sutter, a former employee of the shelter, was arrested along with Oakes in the July 10 incident. The two were each charged with cruelty to animals, petit larceny and maiming and killing of livestock, which is a felony.
In court, prosecutor Matt Quatrara asked for those misdemeanor petit larceny charges to be upgraded to felony theft of livestock, a request that was not opposed by the defense. Quatrara then began calling witnesses to describe the events that led to the pig being taken from the shelter and ended with it being found dead at a farm outside of Verona.
According to testimony, the pig had been found by animal control on July 3. It was taken to the shelter, which was to serve as a temporary holding place.
When an officer returned to the shelter that evening to retrieve the pig, he was met by Oakes, who informed the officer that he had given the pig to a friend to be taken to a butcher.
The officer then told Oakes to contact his friend and return the pig to the shelter but, as the officer later learned, it was too late. During that initial interaction, Oakes told the officer that the pig had been “feral” and that he had been “charged by the pig” at one point.
Surveillance footage taken from the shelter and presented to the court showed Oakes with the pig about 7 p.m. July 3, taking the pig from its shelter and putting a harness on it.
The footage further showed Oakes walking the pig around and petting it.
Officers said Oakes appeared to have an “altercation with the pig” when he attempted to subdue it and that 20 minutes after the pig first showed up on camera, it appeared that the pig had been stabbed somewhere out of frame.
A veterinary expert also testified that after the pig’s remains were returned to authorities, it appeared the pig had been stabbed at least 31 times, mostly around its neck.
After the presentation of evidence, defense attorneys for Oakes and Sutter noted to the court that when it was brought to the shelter, the pig did not have markings or tags to show that it was already someone else’s property. Quatrara agreed that the ownership of the pig was a difficult question that should be argued at trial, but not at the preliminary stage.
The owner of the pig said outside of court Thursday that it had escaped from his property sometime before July 3.
Defense attorneys argued that if the pig was “feral,” then it may be redefined as a nuisance rather than livestock. Judge Steve Helvin dismissed that notion, stating that he was “not buying” the argument that the pig was feral based on the surveillance footage.
Helvin added that a jury also may decide that the killing was in fact “malicious” due to the extreme number of stab wounds found on the pig. He then certified the charges up to Albemarle County’s Circuit Court.
The outcome of Thursday’s hearing seemed to please the dozen or so activists seeking justice for the pig’s killing. Debbi Torres, who runs a pig sanctuary in North Carolina, said that she was one of many in a network of people involved with animal sanctuaries that became interested in the case. She and others traveled from all over to see that the case moved forward.
“I felt that the [Commonwealth’s Attorney’s office] did a wonderful job representing our cause and the pig, and we’re very happy with the judge’s decision to move forward with the prosecution of this situation of the case is indicative of a larger problem with local animal shelters and animal control officers that do not have the specific training and resources necessary to deal with pigs.
“We really want to show people that there are a lot of pet pigs, and there needs to be a better protocol as to where these pigs go and how they’re taken care of when they’re found,” Torres said.
FACEBOOK POST:
# Justice for Profit.
He was represented by many wonderful people who cared and his FAMILY. Yes, he had a family. And they were there. The prosecutor nailed it. The judge upped the charges because of the maliciousness of the attack.
The people lied to the news. Video surveillance at the SPCA that was obtained by an amazing animal Control officer and put together by a detective showed the horrible fate of Profit as they put a harness and leash on him and then they calmly walked him outside on SPCA grounds and stabbed him THIRTY ONE times. An expert animal forensic pathologist testified.
The idea that he was a feral pig was blown out of the water by the video. As was any idea that this was just a common butchering by hungry, down on their luck people. This was much more.
This case moves forward.
We move forward on making sure that the lost and homeless animals in our area have a safe place to go until new homes are found or they can be reunited with their families.
(Richmond.com - Aug 26, 2016)
