I think Bubba needs a taste of his own medicine!

[QueenScoopalot]

http://www.katv.com/news/stories/0605/235042.html

Man Behind Bars After Allegedly Dragging Horse Behind Vehicle


Gentry - A Benton County man is behind bars Friday after accused of tying his horse to his vehicle and dragging it down the road.

The incident happened in the northwest Arkansas town of Gentry.

Police say Trevor McKinley dragged the horse down a country road at least 40 miles per hour.

According to a witness, the horse was running to keep up. McKinley alleged that he was teaching the horse to lead, but later admitted the horse tried to bite his children.

He is being held at the Benton County Jail and faces a misdemeanor charge for cruelty to an animal.

The horse is still alive and is at the Siloam Springs Veterinary Clinic.

Doctors say it has only a small chance of surviving.

[QueenScoopalot]

http://www.lebanondailyrecord.com/ar...ews/news01.txt
Horse-dragging trial goes to jury

By Edward J. Sisson
WAYNESVILLE -- A Pulaski County jury of nine women and three men began deliberations at 11:45 a.m. today in the felony animal abuse trial of Michael Allen Tabor, 43, of Branson.

The jury received the case just one day after the trial began, hearing nearly four hours of testimony from six witnesses Tuesday afternoon before the state rested its case shortly after 5 p.m.

Tabor is accused of tying his yearling colt behind the van he was driving Feb. 24, 2004, and dragging it along Route N and Hutchinson Road in Laclede County, causing severe injuries to the animal's back hooves that resulted in it being euthanized.

The defense began presenting its case at 9 a.m. today and wrapped up by 10:45 a.m. Tabor today opted not to testify on his own behalf.

The defense called just one witness -- Gary Pace, who helped Tabor take the horse to the home of Judith Milholland, who earlier had testified for the prosecution.

Jurors were receiving last-minute instructions before beginning deliberations on the case just before presstime.

The case was moved to Pulaski County from Laclede County on a change of venue on Oct. 15, 2004.

In his opening statement, Laclede County Prosecutor Jon Morris told the jury that the state would show that Tabor's actions "caused physical injury by torturing the horse."

He said due to dragging the animal behind the van, the "hooves of the horse were essentially ground to nothing."

Tabor's public defender, James Stevens, in his opening statement told the jury that his client "went on a binge" and became distressed when the colt would not respond to him.

Stevens said Tabor never intended "to harm, torture, (or) hurt his colt."

The first of the six witnesses called by Morris was Matt Thomas, who testified that he and a friend were at the home of an acquaintance when Tabor, who he did not know, stopped and asked them to help him move his horses from one pasture to another.

On the way to get the horses, Thomas said Tabor stopped at a convenience store, purchased a bottle of whiskey and drank it.

Thomas said one of the animals they were to round up was a colt that was about nine months old and "hadn't been handled."

Thomas, who said he and other members of his family train horses, said it was tough to get the animal, but he did and got a halter on it and settled it down.

He said after that the colt "followed me around."

But, he said, Tabor wasn't satisfied.

"My way of training wasn't good enough," Thomas said.

He said that horses have a tendency to react to the mood of a person and when Tabor attempted to lead him the colt did not cooperate.

"I'll teach the (expletive) to lead," Thomas testified that Tabor said.

The colt was then tied to the back of the van.

Tabor was driving, Thomas and his friend were passengers.

"(We) started out fairly slow -- worked our way up to 30 mph," Thomas said.

He said the top speed was about 35 mph and then Tabor slowed to 10 to 20 mph.

At one point, Tabor drove the van into a driveway, turned around and drove back and the horse was forced into a ditch.

"He just stumbled through the ditch," Thomas said of the horse.

The van left the paved road and drove onto a gravel road. Tabor pulled over to check the condition of the horse. Thomas testified that the colt's heart rate was elevated, it was breathing heavily and was soaked with sweat.

They drove off again and he and his friend became concerned for their safety as well as the horse's safety.

Thomas had described Tabor as "stoned."

"(We) didn't like where we were," Thomas said of he and his friend.

He said that at this point, while Tabor wasn't traveling very fast, it was "too fast for the horse."

Following the second stop to check the horse, Thomas testified that, "I could tell the horse was in quite a bit of pain."

He said he could tell this by how the colt was lifting and sitting down its legs.

When Tabor stopped a third time, Thomas said he and his friend fled the van and ran into a field.

He said they "saw (Tabor's) taillights leaving."

Under questioning from Stevens, Thomas conceded that the horse may have been pulled a shorter distance than the several miles he had told officers initially.

Asked if Tabor had dragged the horse, Thomas said, "Not while we were with him."

He also told Stevens that he did not see any blood or cuts on the animal.

Morris then asked Thomas if vehicles are used in teaching a horse to lead.

"It's done many times ... not in this manner," Thomas replied.

He said as a rule, tractors are used to train the horses to lead and that it is done in a open field and on softer ground.

Morris asked Thomas what speed the tractor was usually traveling at this time.

"I can walk faster than (the speed) they usually use," he said.

Judith Milholland testified under questioning by Morris that she knew Tabor through his niece, who rented a trailer on her property on Hutchinson Road and that he kept horses on the property of someone she knew.

She testified that Tabor had borrowed her van the afternoon of Feb. 24 because he had to remove the horses from that property and relocate them.

Milholland said that several hours later he returned to her house and told her, "I think I (expletive) up."

"He had me come outside and showed me the horse," she testified.

She said the animal was very shaky and it was covered with blood.

"It was really hard to tell where the horse was bleeding from, but it was bleeding," Milholland said.

Milholland said Tabor had told her "(the horse) got caught in a fence and he pulled it out."

She said she did what she could to help the horse, trying to treat it and put it in her garage.

Milholland said she treated the animal "all night long" and checked on it periodically until about 3 a.m. the following day.

Later that day, her neighbor Robert Swick took the horse to his property and gave it shelter.

Under questioning from Stevens, Milholland said during her treatment of the horse she did not observe any hide burns, skin marks, or hair burned off that would indicate the animal had been dragged.

While Milholland told Stevens she had never seen Tabor beat his horses, she did say under questioning by Morris that she witnessed incidents of mistreatment involving another horse he owned.

"I've seen him hit the horse's private parts many times," she said.

Under questioning by Stevens, Milholland conceded that she never called authorities to report the incidents.

"I told him he shouldn't do it," she said.

Robert Swick testified under questioning by Morris that he became acquainted with the defendant after Tabor began to stop at his home occasionally to chat.

He said he had gone with Tabor at his request when he first got the colt.

On the day of the incident, Swick said Tabor had asked him to help him round up the colt.

He said the animal "had not been handled" or "messed with."

They tried several hours to round up the horse, but were unsuccessful.

Swick told Tabor he had to go, but they could try again the following day and he offered to let the defendant take the horse to his place where it could be halter broken later.

The following day the colt was at the Milholland property.

Swick described the colt as "stressed" and "lethargic."

He said the horse had a few scratches on him, "like he had been caught in a fence or something."

Swick added that it appeared that the animal, "was a colt that temporarily had his spirit broken."

Under questioning by Stevens, Swick said the colt acted "tender-footed" but that he didn't see anything that appeared to be life-threatening, but added that he wasn't a veterinarian.

Morris asked Swick about the treatment of Tabor's other horse, referred to by Milholland in her testimony.

Swick said Tabor had once used a pocket knife to perforate the horse's penis, saying he had seen a veterinarian do it before.

Dr. Tim Ellis, a veterinarian with Equine Med Center in the St. Louis area, testified that when his department received the colt days later it was clear that it had sustained multiple wounds.

He said that the med center assists the humane society in treating severe abuse cases involving horses.

He said the injuries to the colt's hind hooves were "devastating" and "traumatic" and "appeared to be sanded away."

He testified that the horse was in excruciating pain from those injuries and an epidermal catheter was used to try to block the pain.

Ellis said he had never seen such a case before.

He said there was nothing more that could be done for the animal and it was euthanized.

"The pain just became uncontrollable," he testified.

Stevens asked Ellis if the horse had been dragged on its side.

"Not on its side ... not that I can see," he said.

Brett Huff, an investigator with the Humane Society of Missouri, testified that he was called to Laclede County by the sheriff's department the first week of March to investigate the abuse report.

Huff said that he followed sheriff's investigator George Young to the Robert Swick property, where he was given permission to look at the colt.

He said that the horse was suffering from several injuries, along with accelerated respiration and heartbeat.

"All four hooves were damaged," Huff said.

Huff testified that a search warrant was obtained for the purpose of, "seizing the animal and putting it under the care of a veterinarian."

After the colt was seen by a local veterinarian, it was transported to the St. Louis area for further treatment.

During the trip, he said the horse had been standing in the trailer for about 45 minutes until it could stand no more and went down.

Huff testified that he later questioned Tabor about the incident and was told by the defendant that, "I messed up."

Under questioning by Stevens, Huff said Tabor showed concern for the well-being of the colt.

Young testified that the sheriff's department had received a call about a horse being dragged in the county Feb. 24 and that he began his investigation the following morning.

He testified that according to his investigation, coupled with witness accounts, the horse may have been pulled by the van for about two miles.

Stevens had questioned whether the number of miles was accurate.

Young said he also interviewed Tabor and testified that the defendant said his intent "was not to hurt the horse."

After the jury was dismissed for the day, Stevens sought to have the felony charge against his client dismissed on the grounds that the state had not met its burden of proof that his client had deliberately caused the injuries to the colt.

Stevens told the court that he conceded that his client acted foolishly, but that at the time of the incident he was impaired by alcohol and did not set out to purposely harm the horse.

Morris told the court that the testimony he had presented indicated otherwise and that the state had met its burden.

The court denied the acquittal motion -- stating this was something that should be left to a jury to decide.

Prior to the beginning of jury selection Tuesday morning, Tabor had sought to have the court remove Morris from prosecuting the case due to conflicts he said went back to when they were in high school together.

Tabor took the stand and under questioning by his attorney said the conflicts included "fights, different disputes with him (Morris)."

"I don't remember him in high school," Morris countered.

The court denied the motion to remove the prosecutor.

Tabor also is scheduled to stand trial beginning Thursday morning in Pulaski County Circuit Court on a felony charge of unlawful use of a weapon in an unrelated case in Laclede County in which he allegedly pointed a shotgun at two people Feb. 21, 2004, at a residence on Hutchinson Road.

That case also was moved to Pulaski County from Laclede County on a change of venue.

Circuit Court Judge Greg Warren is presiding over both matters.

Tabor remains jailed in lieu of $300,000 bond.
******************************************
http://www.lebanondailyrecord.com/ar...ws/news001.txt

Tabor found guilty of felony animal abuse

WAYNESVILLE -- It took a Pulaski County circuit court jury of nine women and three men only 48 minutes to deliberate Wednesday and find Michael Allen Tabor, 43, of Branson, guilty of felony animal abuse.
******************************************
Another creep that needs to be thrown into a wood chipper!

[moosmom]

STUPID, STUPID PEOPLE!!!!

[Bigyummydog]

WHERE DO THESE PEOPLE COME FROM?????????????????????

I agree. Drag his a** around for couple miles. I'd take bets he wouldn't lift his hand to any living creature again.

[cocker_luva]

i hope the horse lives, but if there is too much pain, please be humane.

[tortuga55]

It says in the story that they put it down.

Tabor is accused of tying his yearling colt behind the van he was driving Feb. 24, 2004, and dragging it along Route N and Hutchinson Road in Laclede County, causing severe injuries to the animal's back hooves that resulted in it being euthanized.

[finn's mom]

Originally posted by tortuga55
It says in the story that they put it down.

I think she's referring to the first post, about another incident.

What a sad condition these people must be in to do these things to animals.