OREGON --
This guy is a real piece of work. This was not a livestock hog or a feral hog -- it was a pet hog named DJ. He knew the owner - she is the mother of his child - and runs a pig rescue next door to him.
Because he is a convicted FELON*, he is not allowed to own a gun. Therefore, he has taken to walking the property line with a crossbow, pulling down fencing and trying to entice his ex-partner's rescue pigs onto his property (according to the change.org petition - see "Timeline" below).
*He has a criminal record that includes a 1996 drug conviction and a 2016 felony firearm conviction, court records show. The former was reduced from a felony to a misdemeanor in 2015, according to records.
Bainbridge goes to great length to tell news reporters and now a newspaper that this pig tried to attack and kill him and he had no choice but to shoot it. What he hasn't explained, though, is why - if he was so afraid of being killed and eaten by DJ --
he first paused to take pictures of DJ with his camera phone before shooting DJ in the "SIDE" then chasing this vicious attacking animal and shooting him again. Really???
If this was a legitimate shoot, meaning the animal truly was behaving viciously and he couldn't get to the safety of his house and he just had to shoot the pig -- why wouldn't he have immediately called the sheriff's office to report it? Why did he wait hours - letting DJ suffer and slowly choke to death on his own blood - before finally telling his neighbor that he'd shot DJ because the pig had "dug up" his backyard? He never called the sheriff's office.
The prosecutor's office quickly filed charges against him. However, Bainbridge clearly thinks he can garner support by running his mouth to anyone who'll listen. This is his attempt - a letter to the editor of the Chronicle:
Dear editor, I recently had to kill a 900lb feral hog in my back yard. The owner has been cited by Columbia county animal control in the past for not containing her pigs. If a pig is roaming free on private land it can be considered feral.
According to ODFW the animal's spread disease to humans and wildlife as well as destroy habitat. Feral swine are also considered a predatory animal. Just like coyotes. I have been emailing Roger Kadell for over two years about the swine problem. I will gladly provide copies of the emails if anyone wants to hear the truth. The owner never paid the fines and was turned into collections.
Roger told me in one email he was going to ask the DA to go criminal on the issue and that there was no sense writing another ticket if the courts never make her pay. Personally it think that is the most ignorant thing I have ever heard come out of the mouth of a deputy.
The neighbor says I tore down fence to cause trouble. She's been claiming that for years. She is a liar! The swine was killed due to her negligence and disregard for public safety as well as private property. The ignorance in the sheriff's office to not bother to read the law or even know it is astonishing. Teach the ones involved to read.
What happened to the right to defend ones self from being attacked by a 900lb hog in one's own back yard? I must say I'm disappointed that our law enforcement officials involved don't bother to read the laws we are all supposed to live by. I'm sure if they would actually investigate I would not be the one with their picture in the paper.
When will they enforce the laws that protect citizens from attacks of this nature. At this rate if they actually protect and serve they will be jailing all citizens and letting swine roam free. What next pigs with driver's licenses?
George Bainbridge
St. Helens
Of course, there's two sides to every story and DJ's owner, Michelle Fudge, who runs the Baxter Potbelly Pig and Farm Animal Rescue will tell you that Bainbridge is crazy:
“I think he has a strong dislike for me. I think he’s a psychopath. I think with everything he’s done to us this is normal,” Fudge-Snow said. “I don’t think he’s all there.”
TIMELINE
FEB 6, 2017 -- It happened Monday morning at the
Baxter Potbelly Pig and Farm Animal Rescue when the pig named “DJ” got onto George Bainbridge’s property.
He tells Fox 12 he acted in self-defense when he shot a neighbor’s 900-pound rescue pig with two arrows, killing it.
Michelle Fudge-Snow, says she’s devastated.
“I come home and he says, ‘Well your pigs dug up my backyard again,’ and I’m like, ‘Oh no, which one?’ and he’s like, ‘It’s the one with two arrows in it,’” Fudge-Snow said.
She found DJ badly wounded but still alive - HOURS AFTER BEING SHOT BY BAINBRIDGE WHO NEVER CALLED THE SHERIFF'S OFFICE TO REPORT HIS ALLEGATION THAT THIS VICIOUS PIG BELONGING TO HIS NEIGHBOR THAT HE'S SUPPOSEDLY COMPLAINED ON SEERAL TIMES HAD TRIED TO KILL HIM -- back on her property. She says he lived for a few hours, but there was nothing the veterinarian could do.
“He was shaking, he was in so much pain,” she said. “His life should have mattered and to take his life that easily, it’s just not right. He meant the world to us.”
FEB 16, 2017 — The police just raided Mr. Bainbridge's home in force as Michelle was in the process of laying D.J. to rest. They arrested him on two counts of first degree animal cruelty and one count of criminal mischief. Great news!!! But only the beginning now the important part where Michelle Fudge really needs your voices to be heard.
Earlier this year Mr. Bainbridge was caught red handed and arrested by the ATF on possessing firearms as a convicted felon. That is a felon charge within itself and carries a mandatory sentence....supposedly.
This DA, Steve Atchison and the U.S. Attorney General in Portland plea bargained that sentence down to self supervised probation which led to where we are today.
Please continue your voice to the DA insisting on no plea bargain this time but rather "Justice for D.J.". his email is steve.atchison@co.columbia.or.us. It is your voices that got Mr. Bainbridge arrested, please use your voice to get him convicted and prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law...
FEB 20, 2017 — Tomorrow at 8:30 pacific time is the preliminary hearing for Mr. Bainbridge for the brutal murder of DJ. The hearing will be in front of Judge Cathleen Callahan. Please continue to call for Justice for DJ by sending your loud voice to the DA prosecuting the case steve.atchison@co.columbia.or.us and if you're in the Saint Helens, Oregon area please join in the movement there to attend the hearing in peaceful support of DJ. Thank each of your for your support !
FEB 22, 2017 — Revelations from Mr. Bainbridge's court appearance include that as he was being viciously attacked by DJ and in fear for his life, because "Pigs eat people," he first paused to take pictures of DJ with his camera phone before shooting DJ in the "SIDE" then chasing this vicious attacking animal and shooting him again. Really???
The more that is revealed the more disgusting this case is and the more it becomes clear it was premediated. Please continue to hound the DA and the Courts of Columbia County Saint Helens, Oregon for full prosecution and maximum sentencing in this case. I'm told the next court appearance for Mr. Bainbridge is next Monday February 27th at 11:15 a.m. in front of Judge Callahan in room 351 of the Saint Helens courthouse. Please continue to inundate the DA at steve.atchison@co.columbia.or.us demanding "Justice for DJ"
FEB 23, 2017 — Grand Jury for DJ. Michelle Fudge just relayed that she will be testifying tomorrow morning at 9:45 a.m. Pacific time in front of a Grand Jury convened in the investigation of the heinous murder of DJ as the Grand Jury decides on whether Justice for DJ is pursued.
Your loud voices have convinced the DA to take this fight to the Grand Jury and I thank you!!! Now may your loud prayers and continued voices bring about Justice for DJ through the overwhelming conviction of each of the seven members of the Grand Jury to fully prosecute as the felony this crime is and not allow the pain and suffering Mr. Bainbridge so gleefully inflicted on DJ to go unpunished.
Please keep DJ, Michelle Fudge and the Baxter Potbellied Pig and Farm Animal rescue in your prayers and thoughts so that justice is pursued by the Grand Jury and obtained...
FEB 24, 2017 — This is what a misdemeanor looks like to a grand jury in Oregon. An animal that was shot twice with bow and arrows and left to suffer and bleed out for five hours is a justifiable killing according to a Saint Helen's Oregon Grand Jury!!!
Justice for DJ is drowning in the pool of DJs blood you see in this picture and to which the grand jury said,"Eh, no big deal. No animal cruelty here."
FEB 26, 2017 — DID JUSTICE OR GROSS INCOMPETENCE BY DA SET BAINBRIDGE FREE???
Over the weekend as I have become informed how this Grand Jury appearance was handled by the DA's office I feel compelled to post their actions to get the public's opinion. Please take a few minutes to read this and if you share my shock, my dismay, my disbelief, my anger, then please speak your mind. Not only on here but to the media in the Portland/Saint Helens, Oregon area and to the DA who supposedly handled this case steve.atchison@co.columbia.or.us
Keeping in mind it is the prosecution who is supposed to present evidence proving a crime has been committed and the defense who is supposed to present reasonable doubt as to whether a crime has been committed, draw your conclusions to what you are about to read.
(1) The DA's office, the police, the court system and animal control all state they have never had as many phone calls, emails and other contact about any case in Columbia county as they did about this case. One would think that having received so much contact and public outrage DA Steve Atchison would be handling all phases of this case personally to insure the fullest possibility of justice and to assure the public he was on it and fully capable of doing his job. Here's what happened......
With the DA's office knowing they were going before a Grand Jury on Thursday morning at approximately 10:00 a.m. they had John Berg from their office call Michelle at 4:45 p.m. on Wednesday, the night before, to notify her of the proceeding.
The voicemail which he left and I have personally heard several times stated, "Michelle this is John Berg with the DA office, we are taking the case to the Grand Jury tomorrow morning and I REALIZED I need to have you testify..." REALLY???!!! Am I the only one dumbfounded by this statement? Mere hours before a Grand Jury convenes you "realize" you need to have a key witness who is also the victim testify?
Not only do you realize this at the last minute but you are asking a witness to testify that you've never even spoken to let alone met!!! What competent attorney, be it for the prosecution or the defense does such a thing? Would not even an attorney fresh out of law school want to know what evidence this witness has so he can present it in an organized and convincing manner. What attorney would not want to know if this witness was a friendly or hostile witness to their case. Why would you not want to first interview the key witness and victim of a case who has full knowledge of the events before putting them in front of a Judge, a Jury or especially a Grand Jury???
What attorney would not want to know all the facts of a case before presenting it? What attorney would not want to discuss the presentation to be made with their witness, to inform the witness of how the procedure proceeds? The apparent answer to those questions is DA Steve Atchison, his office and his staff...
Wait for it, it gets even more dumbfounding. Upon arriving at the courthouse Michelle discovered it was John Berg presenting the case to the Grand Jury, not Mr. Atchison himself. The first thing Mr. Berg said upon meeting with his witness for the first time was "We have to hurry and be quick, we don't have much time." You sir are presenting a case to a Grand Jury over the cruel and drawn out taking of a life and you are in a hurry and don't have much time to present it? Did the Grand Jury have an important tee time they had to make. Did you have a movie you had to get to? What? If there was not time to fully present a case, which in all actuality you knew very little about, then why present it at all???
Here's how he "allegedly" (so I can be PC correct) presented the case. Keep in mind whose job it is to present evidence supporting a conviction and whose job it is to present reasonable doubt.
He presented a picture of the fence line that once was buried in blackberry brush, and consisted of wire fencing secured by fence posts. The picture "allegedly" showed only fence posts remaining.
It is reasonable to expect a prosecution presentation of this picture might be, "Miss Fudge, is this the remains of the fence line that Mr. Bainbridge tore down?" To which the reply would be yes. This would place in the jury's mind there was once a fence, that it had been torn by Mr. Bainbridge and that there was confirmation of it.
It is reasonable to expect the defense, to place reasonable doubt in the juries mind would present the picture in this manner, "This is a picture of the fence line once covered in blackberry, I know goats eat blackberry brush do pigs..." This would place in the jury's mind that if a 50 pound goat eats away at blackberry brush, certainly a 900 pound pig could as well. A brilliant defense strategy. But alas, the defense didn't use this strategy, Mr. Berg did!!!
Part of Mr. Bainbridge's defense was Pigs eat people. guess who implanted in the minds of the grand jury that pigs eat people. Was it the defense? No. it was Mr. Berg by stating something to the effect of , "Miss Fudge I understand pigs eat people..." do you think the jury heard the rest of the question or the answer to the question?
I wondered why Mr. Bainbridge hadn't hired an attorney to represent him in this case. I tried to figure out what he had up his sleeve. Now the answer is clear. He knew from years of past experience he couldn't get a better attorney working for him than the DA!
The voicemail that the DA's office left for Michelle telling of the Grand Jury's verdict, which I have also listened to several times, included the lady leaving the message stating, "I hope that when he is released you pay special attention to your surroundings and if you feel endangered contact...."
Well no shit!!! You bungled yet another case and all you can say is watch your back????
You tell me, is this justice or incompetence? If you believe it to be the latter I implore you to remember two things said by people much wiser than I. (1) What it takes for evil to prevail is for good people to simply do nothing. (2) Lawlessness does not need to be fought for, it occurs naturally. It is law, order and justice that must be valiantly fought for and defended.
If you believe these statements to be true, then do something, continue to fight and contact the media and the DA, share this wherever you can.
Fight for and demand "Justice for DJ!" In doing so you are fighting for all the future victims of this style of brutal torture and killing for I promise you, this case, if left as is, sets a precedence for all future Bainbridge's to have free reign in committing these crimes without fear of punishment or consequence. We must not, as a civilized people allow this to happen...
Mr. Bainbridge is supposedly to appear in court concerning this case Monday morning at 11:15 a.m. in front of Judge Callahan, please let your voices be heard before then...
I think the reason he was charged was because he did not kill the pig in a humane manner. He shot it once, chased it down, shot it again and then simply walked away - leaving it to suffer horribly - for hours.
(
Chronicle Online - March 9, 2017)
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