Hours after his arrest early Thursday afternoon, Quinton Clayton, 20, was arraigned on charges of aggravated cruelty to animals and petty larceny — both misdemeanors — as well as a felony charge of unlawful mischief.
Clayton’s arrest and unscheduled arraignment at the criminal courthouse in Barre capped a near month-long investigation into a bizarre case that outraged animal activists and claimed the life of a beloved horse, Bunny, on Oct. 5 in Barre.
Though the incident occurred during archery season for deer, moose and turkey, Thibault suggested it was intentional, not accidental. Records suggest Clayton used a stolen bow to intentionally slaughter a horse.
“This was the senseless killing of an animal,” Thibault said, defending his request that Clayton be held on $25,000 cash bail for fear he might flee the state.
Despite three missed court dates — including two this month — Clayton’s court-appointed lawyer, Maggie Vincent, argued against any monetary bail given Clayton’s ties to the community.
Judge John Pacht split the difference.
Pacht acknowledged the seriousness of the crime that left a horse dead, its owner, Regan Howard, emotionally wounded, and the community scarred.
“As a community we are horrified by allegations such as this,” he said, suggesting the case may highlight the need for the Legislature to revisit the statutory penalties for cruelty to animals, which currently include a fine of up to $1,000, a jail term of up to one year, or both.
The judge said that seemed inadequate. But he indicated Thibault’s bail request was inflated by emotion and Vincent’s client-friendly counter ignored a recent record of Clayton’s failure to appear for hearings. Those were for unrelated charges including leaving the scene of an accident, selling drugs to a minor and violations of his conditions of release.
“We do have a history of Mr. Clayton not showing up,” Pacht said, noting one of the charges he now faces is a felony.
He set Clayton’s bail at $10,000 while imposing most of the conditions of release requested by the prosecutor in the event he is able to post it.
Among other things, those conditions include a 24-hour curfew, a prohibition on the use of regulated drugs without a prescription, and a requirement that he report to the Barre City Police Department three times a week.
Pacht deferred a decision on a condition requested by Thibault that Clayton be released only to a “responsible adult” if he is able to make bail.
Vincent argued that amounted to holding Clayton without bail because he had “no such person” to fill that role.
Pacht chose not to decide at this time, suggesting instead that if Clayton is able to post bail, he must return to court to discuss where he will stay before he is actually released.
Barre Mayor Thomas Lauzon and Public Safety Director Tim Bombardier were on hand for the late afternoon arraignment, as were Howard and the Loziers.
Court documents indicate the arrow used to kill the Howard’s horse was among several items — including a compound bow — reported stolen on Oct. 5 from vehicles owned by Corey Maloney and his girlfriend, Rebecca Laplant.
They also show that Clayton emerged as a suspect very early on and the bow was seized as evidence two days after it was taken.
According to court records, police conducted a number of interviews and collected information involving social media posts about the slain horse and text messages that refer to the incident and the stolen items.
Records show two of those conversations occurred Wednesday — arming police with the electronic and anecdotal information they needed to arrest Clayton.
(Times Argus - Oct 28, 2016)
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