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44 minutes ago • By Jan Falstad
Billings cattle and horse breeder James Leachman "turned a blind eye to these abandoned and suffering horses," said Yellowstone Deputy County Attorney Ingrid Rosenquist during opening arguments Tuesday during Leachman's trial on misdemeanor animal abuse charges.
As a result of plastic leg bands that Leachman or his help placed on a majority of about 800 horses ranging 16 miles east of Billings on the Crow Reservation, five horses died or were euthanized, Rosenquist said. The leg bands, designed for dairy cattle, not horses, were left on their front legs until some were crippled and couldn't walk.
An owner has a duty to his livestock, she said.
"If they're hurt, you get them help. It you can't get help, you put them down," she said.
In January 2011, the Yellowstone County Attorney's office charged Leachman with five main counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty and five alternative counts.
In his opening remarks, public defender Clark Mathews said that after 40 years of raising large herds of cattle and then registered American Quarter Horses, Leachman went bankrupt in 2010. He lost his Home Place ranch 16 miles east of Billings to foreclosure and the neighboring Stovall family bought the ranch.
Leachman continued to graze his horses on the ranch during the year he had to raise the money to redeem his property, which didn't occur. During the winter of 2010-2011, ranch manager Turk Stovall started reporting problems that he was seeing with horses suffering from tight leg bands and inadequate food and water to the Department of Livestock, the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Mathews said his client started using the leg bands in 2006 so he could positively identify the horses until they were old enough to brand.
He said Stovall and his hired hands kept moving Leachman's horses around the 40,000-acre ranch, which meant finding them to check on their condition was difficult, and winter snows made access tougher.
Then the BIA announced it was seizing the horses for trespassing on tribal lands, Mathews said.
"He's being told he's not supposed to be there and told the BIA is confiscating his horses," he said.
In March, about 800 Leachman horses were rounded up by Crow tribal members and sold at a BIA sale during the first two days of April 2011.
After opening remarks, Chief Deputy County Attorney Rod Souza called his first of nine prosecution witnesses, Yellowstone County Sheriff Lt. Kent O'Donnell, who shot some of the Leachman horses that couldn't walk properly. Graphic photographs of swollen legs, deformed hooves and exposed limbs where the plastic bands had cut into flesh were introduced as evidence.
The defense has listed 11 potential witnesses for Leachman.
The trial before Yellowstone County Justice of the Peace Larry Herman is expected to last all week.
Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/st-day-of-leachman-trial-features-photos-of-crippled-horses/article_6a88f9ae-b66e-5c67-9b7e-9e040c98471c.html#ixzz2DSWlzb1q
Billings cattle and horse breeder James Leachman "turned a blind eye to these abandoned and suffering horses," said Yellowstone Deputy County Attorney Ingrid Rosenquist during opening arguments Tuesday during Leachman's trial on misdemeanor animal abuse charges.
As a result of plastic leg bands that Leachman or his help placed on a majority of about 800 horses ranging 16 miles east of Billings on the Crow Reservation, five horses died or were euthanized, Rosenquist said. The leg bands, designed for dairy cattle, not horses, were left on their front legs until some were crippled and couldn't walk.
An owner has a duty to his livestock, she said.
"If they're hurt, you get them help. It you can't get help, you put them down," she said.
In January 2011, the Yellowstone County Attorney's office charged Leachman with five main counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty and five alternative counts.
In his opening remarks, public defender Clark Mathews said that after 40 years of raising large herds of cattle and then registered American Quarter Horses, Leachman went bankrupt in 2010. He lost his Home Place ranch 16 miles east of Billings to foreclosure and the neighboring Stovall family bought the ranch.
Leachman continued to graze his horses on the ranch during the year he had to raise the money to redeem his property, which didn't occur. During the winter of 2010-2011, ranch manager Turk Stovall started reporting problems that he was seeing with horses suffering from tight leg bands and inadequate food and water to the Department of Livestock, the Yellowstone County Sheriff's Office and the Bureau of Indian Affairs.
Mathews said his client started using the leg bands in 2006 so he could positively identify the horses until they were old enough to brand.
He said Stovall and his hired hands kept moving Leachman's horses around the 40,000-acre ranch, which meant finding them to check on their condition was difficult, and winter snows made access tougher.
Then the BIA announced it was seizing the horses for trespassing on tribal lands, Mathews said.
"He's being told he's not supposed to be there and told the BIA is confiscating his horses," he said.
In March, about 800 Leachman horses were rounded up by Crow tribal members and sold at a BIA sale during the first two days of April 2011.
After opening remarks, Chief Deputy County Attorney Rod Souza called his first of nine prosecution witnesses, Yellowstone County Sheriff Lt. Kent O'Donnell, who shot some of the Leachman horses that couldn't walk properly. Graphic photographs of swollen legs, deformed hooves and exposed limbs where the plastic bands had cut into flesh were introduced as evidence.
The defense has listed 11 potential witnesses for Leachman.
The trial before Yellowstone County Justice of the Peace Larry Herman is expected to last all week.
Read more: http://billingsgazette.com/news/local/st-day-of-leachman-trial-features-photos-of-crippled-horses/article_6a88f9ae-b66e-5c67-9b7e-9e040c98471c.html#ixzz2DSWlzb1q
