OKLAHOMA -- A Claremore man Tuesday was fined $500 on a cruelty to animal charge stemming from the ill-fated June 1987 Catoosa Days endurance horse race.
Associate District Judge Edwin Carden followed a trial jury's recommendation in fining Marty Douglas Bates, 23, of Claremore, who gave notice he will appeal his felony conviction. The judge stayed the fine pending the appeal, a court spokesman said.
A seven-woman, five-man jury deliberated about an hour in November to convict Bates, the first participant in the race that left seven horses dead from heat exhaustion, to face a felony conviction. He could have received a maximum five-year prison term.
Defense attorney Robert Green asked the court to rule that Bates was convicted of a misdemeanor, not a felony, because jurors recommended only a fine. But Carden upheld the felony conviction.
District Attorney T. Jack Graves contended Bates' actions during the race constituted intentional animal cruelty to his Appaloosa horse.
Bates claimed he was only a participant in an athletic event.
Co-defendants Jody Marcella Trotter of Kiefer and Billy Andrew Coghill of Broken Arrow, who is accused of overdriving a black mare to her death, are awaiting separate trials.
William B. Schlunegar of Broken Arrow was acquitted in June after a jury deliberated for seven hours before reaching their verdict. It was believed that Schlunegar had shown more care and concern for his horse than the other riders.
Race promoter Bill McAnally, his wife Paula McAnally and another horseman, Johnnie Lee Meders, were fined and placed on probation after pleading no contest to misdemeanor animal cruelty charges in October 1987.
UPDATES:
Jody Marcella Trotter entered a no-contest plea to two charges of animal cruelty involving the overriding of a two horses in the Catoosa Days endurance race.
Rogers County Associate District Judge Edwin Carden sentenced Trotter to a $750 fine plus court costs and ordered her to perform 50 hours of community service.
Billy Andrew Coghill pleaded no contest to a charge of animal cruelty. Rogers County Associate District Judge Edwin Carden fined Coghill $500 and gave him a one-year deferred sentence. His conviction will be cleared from the court record if he is convicted of no other law violations within the year.
(NewsOK - December 21, 1988)
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