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Regional,
Monthly All-Breed Horse Magazine
• Since
1993 |
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Copyright 2010 Rocky Mountain Rider. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction of any editorial material, artwork and photos is strictly forbidden without express written permission of the publisher. For information about reprint rights, please contact the editor; editor@rockymountainrider.com.
March
3, 2010, 12:30 p.m.,
Working through the morning and lunch hour, Judge Jeffry Langton of
Montana Judicial District Court sentenced scores of people who had plea
agreements, mostly on DUI charges.
Most of the many spectators were waiting for one case — the last one
— the sentencing of Craig and Curtis Heydon.
After hearing statements by the prosecutor and the defense, and then
testimony from Vicki Dawson, operations manager at the Bitter Root Humane
Association animal shelter, and Bill Buzzel, defense investigator, about how
much daily board and care should cost for the four horses in foster care, the
Judge asked the defendants if they had any statements.
Curtis Heydon stood up and read a plea to the Judge, saying, in part,
that his father always taught him right from wrong and to act on the Golden
Rule. He explained that after he (Curtis) had lost his wife to cancer, he wanted
to go on a camping retreat with his father in the wilderness. He said that he
and his father were tried by public opinion and crucified by the press.
When asked by the Judge, Craig Heydon said that he did not wish to make a
statement.
Before sentencing, the Judge put aside the issue of the youngest horse,
Magic, the subject of the two not-guilty verdicts. He asked council to try to
come to an agreement in the next few days over costs incurred for that horse,
and said that Magic might even be the subject of a civil case.
Prosecutor John Bell suggested, among a list of other recommendations
including jail time, that the Heydons should learn about abused animals by
having 500 hours of community service at an animal rescue or shelter.
Judge Langton said that he believed that the $10 per horse per day board
asked by the animal shelter was not an unreasonable amount for the Heydons to
pay. He then said that he wanted to note, for the record, that in cases like
this, he normally had to deal with poverty, senility or mental disorders.
Langton stated that this was a case of well-educated men who knew how to
research and plan, yet asked the court to believe they didn’t understand the
requirements of horses; that they had provided for their own requirements, but
that requirements for the horses had been ignored. For this, the Heydons were
grossly negligent.
Judge Langton began to go through a list of discrepancies in the Heydons’
testimony, beginning with the book “Horse Owner’s Veterinary
Handbook, 2008 edition” that Craig
Heydon had told the judge he had purchased before the trip (May 2008). Langton
said that a quick check on the internet showed that the book had not been
released for sale until July 2008.
The Judge continued by admonishing the Heydons for not taking horse
rescuer Cheryl Flanagan’s advice in Georgia when she told them that horses
needed to be conditioned and trained before undertaking a back country trip.
Judge Langton told the court, “Their saddles and equipment were not
correct. Their pack saddles were bizarre homemade devices and massively
overpacked. There was no indication of hay being taken with them. They said that
they took 350 lbs. of feed, yet receipts and oral statements add up to only 100
pounds of feed, with 50 pounds lost on the trail. They showed pictures of
feeding the horses from a container the size of a margarine tub.
“They have indicated deliberate indifference to the health and welfare
of these horses. By the time they came out of Big Creek, the horses should have
been allowed to rest, recuperate and see a farrier.
“Over the entire trip they bought five to seven bales of hay, about a
week’s worth of food for a two-month long trip. The only adequate grazing was
for a few days at Elk Summit.
“There’s no reason the horses should have been in that condition.
They were used and abused. And, I still see no acceptance or acknowledgement of
guilt.”
The judge turned to John Bell and said, in reference to recommending
community service, “Would you want them looking after your animal?”
On each count, Judge Langton gave each of the defendants 180 days of jail
time, with 160 days suspended; which left each to serve 180 days jail time,
beginning immediately. He said that he would not entertain any motion to suspend
the sentence during an appeal.
The Judge then said that the horses would be forfeited, and that all
costs, amounting to more than $24,000 each, should be paid within five months or the
balance of jail time would be served.
The defendants were taken away by sheriff’s deputies to begin serving
time.
The horses will become wards of
More information to be posted as soon as possible. Please check back soon.
Thank
you for reading Rocky Mountain Rider Magazine
There will also be a longer article about the trial in the April Issue of RMR.
Reader Comments about the Trial. Click Here!
Copyright 2010 Rocky Mountain Rider. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. Reproduction of any editorial material, artwork and photos is strictly forbidden without express written permission of the publisher. For information about reprint rights, please contact the editor; editor@rockymountainrider.com.
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Rocky
Mountain Rider Magazine • Montana Owned & Operated |
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