Saturday, May 2, 2009

Conflict in animal control ordinance affects sentencing

Clara Garcia News-Bulletin Staff Writer; cgarcia@news-bulletin.com

A Meadow Lake woman avoided a fine or jail time for dozens of counts of animal cruelty charges thanks to a conflict in the county's animal control ordinance.

Heidi Burge of Meadow Lake pleaded no contest on Tuesday to 40 counts of animal cruelty in Magistrate Court in Los Lunas. Magistrate Tina Gallegos sentenced Burge to 200 hours of community service and prohibited her from owning or possessing any animals for a period of one year.

John Jaramillo, the animal control officer who prosecuted the case, asked Gallegos to impose a 40-day jail sentence as well — one day for each count. But when Burge's attorney, Greg Gaudette, advised the judge that he had found an inconsistency in the county's ordinance regarding penalties that could be imposed, Gallegos decided against jail time.

According to the county's animal control ordinance regarding cruelty to animals and abandonment, the penalty for anyone who is found guilty of an offense is a fine of $200 to $500. But, according to Gaudette, the penalty clause specific to cruelty to animals doesn't include jail time.

He told the judge that the conflict in the ordinance relates to a final clause in the ordinance regarding penalties. According to Section 90.999 (B) "each violation of this chapter shall be punishable by a fine of no more than $300, and/or imprisonment for no more than 90 days, or both; exceptions being those sections which carry a separate fine or penalty for the offense stated."

Gaudette informed the judge that if she sentenced his client to serve jail time, he would have had to appeal her decision to district court because of the contradiction in the county's ordinance.

Jaramillo said that he prosecuted Burge under the county ordinances rather than state statutes because the district attorney's office doesn't prosecute misdemeanors. Gallegos advised Jaramillo to speak with the county's attorney about the animal control ordinance.

Gallegos also ordered that Burge undergo a psychological screening within the next 10 days, and if treatment were recommended, then the defendant would have to undergo counseling. The judge also ordered animal control officers to make arrangements within the next 10 days to pick up about 35 cats Burge has accumulated since the incident she pleaded to on Tuesday.

In May 2008, Valencia County Animal Control officers were alerted by Burge's neighbors on Navajo Lane in Meadow Lake about an odor coming from the home. When the officers drove up to the property, they said, they could smell a strong odor of ammonia — from animal urine and feces — even before they opened the door to their truck.

When the two officers walked up to the front door of the single-wide mobile home, they saw a lot of clutter in the yard, along with numerous cats running about. That's when Burge came out of one of the two campers parked on the property.

One of the officers described the floor of the house as being covered in cat feces — in some places more than a foot deep. He said in other places the feces were packed tightly to the floor, on countertops and in cupboards.

There were cats not only in the house, but also in both campers, in the garage and running loose outside. Two dogs were being kept in a 10-by-8-foot pen outside. There was so much feces in the pen that one of the officers said he couldn't see any soil underneath, and that, in one area, the waste was as high as 10 inches deep.

More than 40 cats and the two dogs were seized by animal control, although more animals were seen on the property. A decision was made by animal control not to return to the house for health reasons.

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