Yesterday, Ceba Horsey was found guilty on three of four counts of animal cruelty in the District Court for Wicomico County.
As The Equiery reported last summer, the Wicomico County, Maryland State’s Attorney charged Delaware resident Ceba Horsey with one felony count of aggravated animal cruelty and three counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty for botching the euthanasia of his horse, which had suffered a broken leg.
According to a press release issued by the Wicomico County Sheriff’s office, on 9 July 2015 a deputy responded to a call regarding an injured horse lying in the grass at boarding stable on Waller Road in Delmar, Maryland (which is on the Maryland-Delaware line).
According to the Sheriff’s office, the horse had broken its leg the previous day, and the owner had apparently told others on the property that he would euthanize the horse himself with an injection. The responding deputy did observe evidence that someone had attempted to inject the horse. However, according to the Sheriff’s office, the horse was still alive and in obvious pain, and so the deputy euthanized the horse. (On behalf of all our readers, thank you, Deputy Bennett.) We would like to note that the Deputy did take the precautions of consulting with Animal Control and a veterinarian prior to putting the horse out of its misery, but apparently did so with as much alacrity as the law allowed.
Had he been convicted of the felony charges, Horsey would have faced up to three years in jail and up to $5,000 in fines. However, yesterday, the court acquitted Horsey of the felony aggravated cruelty charges, but found him guilty of the lesser charges. He was ordered to pay some fines and will be on probation for two years.
Please explain ” but apparently did so with as much alacrity as the law allowed.”
While it might have seemed obvious that the suffering horse needed to be immediately dispatched in order to prevent more suffering, the cop, appropriately, had to make sure he went through the proper procedures (such as consulting with animal control and a licensed vet) before he could dispatch the animal with his service weapon.
It’s a shame that a key witness backed out of testifying and resulted in the aggravated cruelty charges being dropped. That horse suffered from a broken shoulder for four days and the attempted euthanasia was much more gruesome than what was portrayed in court. At least he will be no were near a horse for three years. Hopefully the United States trotting association can do more and suspend him for life.
So the cop tested the contents of the syringes found nearby and determined it was a sort of euthanasia? You did not say how the cop euthanized it. I think there should have been a licensed vet present.
Sad