[Dailydrool] Annie's court case

[Leanne Potts]

Ok, today was the day, and here's the scoop:

Randall Treadway's case was continued until May 6.
His mother, Linda Treadway, had the charge of animal cruelty dimissed.

Sorry for late word. My %$#@@!!* modem chose tonight to die.

Here's the details:

Linda Treadway showed up in court with a defense attorney who has a rep for
being feisty and pricey. He wanted a trial and they did it today, a bench
trial, which means the judge hears and decides the case, not a jury. (Our
case came shortly after  pleas by the guy on his eighth DUI and a couple of
scroungy-looking wife beaters.) Linda, if you recall, owned the property on
which Annie was living in her kennel and embedded harness. Her attorney had
no defense except to say that the dog belonged to Randall Treadway, her son,
who lived two doors down, not Linda. Even the defense attorney told the
judge he wouldn't dispute the fact that the dog had been mistreated -- he
was disputing who was to blame. He told the court Annie's condition was the
fault of Randall Treadway, not Linda Treadway, his hapless mom.

The ACO testified, the vet testified, the Belly Rubs volunteer who
confiscated Annie testified. The prosecutor made the point that "If this
were a child we were talking about, a child who had been locked in the
basement on Linda Treadway's property and not fed, we wouldn't be talking
about who had custody."

"He's comparing a child to a dog!!" hissed Linda Treadway to her attorney. I
was sitting three feet behind her, so I could hear the whisper.

The judge lectured Linda and Randall Treadway from the bench, holding up the
gruesome photos of Annie and telling them "This is just wrong," and "I've
never seen anything like this."

Then he dismissed the charges against Linda on the grounds that he couldn't
prove beyond a reasonable doubt that she knowingly harmed Annie. That was
the standard of guilt, according to the judge, was that she knew Annie's
harness was cutting into her flesh. Being able to stand outside the kennel
and see that it was tight was not enough. She had to know the dog was in
pain.

And by his read, the law does not oblige her to check the condition of a dog
on her property that she says she doesn't own.

It stinks. But the good news is this:

Linda Treadway is a school bus driver. She had to miss work and pay a
high-priced defense attorney to get her off the hook. This hit her in the
pocketbook, painfully. I count that as a victory.

And the testimoney in Linda's case was utterly damning to Randall Treadway.
Before his mother's trial, Randall was demanding a trial for his charges.
After seeing the evidence in mom's case and the judge's reaction, his
defense attorney met privately with the prosecutor, and they delayed his
case until May 6.

Randall Treadway's skinny, pasty, white-trash butt is cooked.  "His lawyer
can see the handwriting on the wall," the judge told me after the trial.

We'll go back on May 6 to see what happens. This ain't over folks.

Leanne Potts
President, Belly Rubs Basset Rescue
www.bellyrubs.org
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