In the 'open rescue' trial currently underway in Santa Rosa, California, the defendants were able to briefly play video of diseased ducks stuck on their back to the judge. It was incredibly powerful, maybe too powerful. The next day, the judge announced that she will not allow the jury to see any photo or video evidence of animal welfare conditions because it would be prejudicial. She said defense witnesses may be allowed to verbally describe conditions they saw, but not with editorialized comments. As an example, you can say 'you saw ducks on their backs' but don’t say they were 'suffering'.
CRESCENZO VELLUCCI: In what is the second trial involving the “open rescue” of factory farm animals in California this year, animal rights activist and lawyer Wayne Hsiung is facing misdemeanor trespass and felony conspiracy charges this week in Santa Rosa County Superior Court for the open rescue of animals in Sonoma County in 2018 and 2019.
Pretrial motions have been at the center of the case for the week—in fact, much of September—and they’re not done yet, although jury selection is expected to begin either late this week or next…
More than 100 people affiliated with DxE were arrested on felony charges initially after, according to DxE, they provided “emergency medical aid” to “sick and suffering animals,” because, they claim, “county and state authorities ignored repeated reports of criminal animal abuse at these facilities.”
But, the defense took big hits late last week when Judge Laura Passaglia McCarthy excluded two defense witnesses, described as “key” by Direct Action Everywhere (DxE).
Excluded were Dr. Laura Dixon, an animal scientist specializing in the poultry industry, whom the defense intended to call as an expert witness, and Dr. Armaiti May, a veterinarian who made an assessment regarding animal cruelty at Reichardt Duck Farm in 2014. The judge said conditions in 2014 are irrelevant to the conditions in 2019, reported DxE.
Passaglia McCarthy also Thursday said the defense’s Jonathan Frohnmayer, a lawyer and former defendant in the case, could only “testify about his observations at the demonstrations including what he saw Hsiung doing, but not about his personal experiences contacting authorities regarding animal cruelty,” said DxE.
The judge did grant a defense request for Sunrise Farms and Reichardt Duck Farm documents of the conditions at their facilities, but agreed with the prosecution to a protective order, preventing the documents from being shared with the public…
Earlier in the week, DxE we were able to briefly play footage of diseased ducks stuck on their backs at Reichardt. It was incredibly powerful. Maybe it was too powerful. The next day, Judge Laura Passaglia announced that she will not allow the jury to see any photo or video evidence of animal welfare conditions at Reichardt or Sunrise because it would be prejudicial to the jurors for them to see the condition of the animals.
Defendant Wayne Hsiung and other defense witnesses may be allowed to verbally describe conditions they saw prior to the rescues, but not with editorialized comments. The judge specifically said as an example, you can say you saw ducks on their backs but don’t say they were “suffering”…
DxE said its activists took action in “broad daylight to openly rescue animals, supported by a legal opinion on the right to rescue animals from abuse under the doctrine of legal necessity (now barred by the judge) and California law. They removed 37 sick hens from Sunrise and 32 sick ducks from Reichardt.”
The defense maintains the mass open rescue at Sunrise was “prompted by investigations that occurred in 2017 and 2018, which found that despite Proposition 2 banning intensive confinement, Sunrise was confining tens of thousands of birds in towering 15-foot-tall rows of tightly packed cages, inside of which many were sick, dying, and dead.”
DxE charged investigators “found violations of California’s animal cruelty statute, Penal Code section 597, including injured birds who were unable to access food or water… Direct Action Everywhere (DxE). citing victories in trials of activists who did open rescues in St. George, UT and Merced, CA, said “if this series of legal wins continues, it could open the floodgates to a new view of animals under the law: as legal persons, not property”. SOURCE…
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