A Litigation Article from All-Creatures.org

Case Dismissed: Sanctuary Owner Vindicated

From UnchainedTV.com
October 2024

As the trial was literally starting jury selection, the judge suddenly dismissed the case and scolded the police investigators. Why? Here's how the winning legal team put it.

In the summer of 2022, two cows escaped from an Upstate New York beef farm and wandered over to nearby Asha’s Farm Animal Sanctuary.

The sanctuary owner, Tracy Murphy, took the 2 cows in, informed the local SPCA, and cared for the animals.

Two years later, on October 3rd, 2024, she was set to go on trial, facing up to a year in jail, accused of misdemeanor petit larceny. She had originally been arrested, shackled and charged with a felony that could have put her behind bars for 7 years. Though the charge was reduced, her life has been hellish for 2 long years, due to threats and protests in front of her animal sanctuary accusing her of cattle rustling. When the neighboring beef farmer, who was also a New York State Trooper, arrived to get the cows, Murphy says she demanded proof of ownership and offered to buy the animals.

Ultimately, the cows were seized by police armed with a search warrant and Tracy Murphy was chained at the wrist, waist and ankles and hit with a gag order to prevent her from speaking, which was later lifted. According to the New York Times, after police delivered the two animals to the farmer, “he sold the cows and they were slaughtered.”

Now, as the trial was literally starting jury selection, the judge suddenly dismissed the case and scolded the police investigators. Why? Here's how the winning legal team put it.

"Despite a warrant that explicitly required that the cows—the prime evidence in the case—be provided to the court, they were instead sold and slaughtered. As a result, defense attorneys have been unable to inspect the allegedly stolen property, as is their right in a theft case. Moreover, the supervising investigator in the case, who also directed the seizure of the cows, is the brother-in-law of the purported owner of the cows....a fact that defense attorneys learned only two days before... the start of the case. Additionally, text messages about the case.... were instead suspiciously deleted. In suppressing all evidence about the cows, Judge Gary Strenkoski expressed disappointment in law enforcement investigators."

For more information on Tracy Murphy's sanctuary, visit: Asha's Farm Sanctuary.

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Posted on All-Creatures: October 5, 2024
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