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Case #4082 Rating: 2.0 out of 5
Cow neglect - 120 seized
Immokalee, FL (US)Incident Date: Sunday, Feb 29, 2004
County: Collier
Charges: Misdemeanor, Felony CTA
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Michael Lee Swails
Case Updates: 5 update(s) available
Michael Lee Swails, 47, of Immokalee, was arrested in March 2005 in connection with the discovery of dead, dying or severely malnourished cows on his ranch last year and has been charged with 120 felony counts of animal cruelty.
He said had lost his job, got overwhelmed and didn't know what to do even though he said he was a fourth-generation cowman, officials said.
In March 2004, Collier County Sheriff's deputies and Domestic Animal Services officers went to the Immokalee pasture on a tip.
They said they found nearly two dozen dead cows and saw vultures feeding on two that were still alive but too weak to move. Those cows were put to death.
"It is a really horrific case. The fact that such a large number of animals was involved makes this case particularly bad," said Margot Castorena, director of Collier County Domestic Animal Services.
The pasture was bare and it was evident that no food delivery had been made in some time, deputies say.
The remaining cows were seized and fed by Domestic Animal Services and donations from the public. Castorena said more than 100 cows survived and were sold at auction last July.
A trial date for Swails may be set at an April 11, 2005 hearing. A conviction on animal cruelty carries a maximum sentence of five years.
Case UpdatesMore than two dozen cattlemen and supporters packed a courtroom Friday to urge a judge not to send Immokalee cattleman Michael Swails to jail on animal cruelty charges for five cows that died in 2004, when authorities seized a herd of 122 malnourished and starving cattle.
But despite their pleas for mercy and defense arguments, Collier Circuit Judge Elizabeth Krier sentenced Swails, 50, of 17180 Katydid Lane, to 60 days in jail as part of a sentence that includes probation and community service for the five first-degree misdemeanor convictions involving the five deaths. The maximum penalty for the offense is a year in jail.
Krier ordered that Swails serve 300 days of county probation once he's released, with 15 days monthly performing animal-related community service - although she admitted it will be hard for the county probation department to find an agency that will accept someone with an animal cruelty conviction. For the remaining four animal cruelty counts, Krier sentenced Swails to a year of county probation on each. The sentence spans five years.
Krier said she'd thoroughly researched the history of animal abuse and neglect in Florida and it was clear the state considers the treatment of animals an important concern. Citing the state's first animal law in 1889 and a recent amendment protecting pregnant pigs, the judge said it didn't matter whether an animal was wild, domesticated, or a farm animal - they all must be protected from abuse and neglect.
"There is little evidence he took positive steps to care for them," Krier said, noting that testimony at Swails' three-day trial last month showed he'd had the recently purchased cows for nearly two months. "It seems like a long period of time to not care for those animals."
The judge agreed with a prosecution expert, Officer Charles Campbell, a longtime cattleman with the Collier County sheriff's agricultural division who testified at the hourlong sentencing hearing Friday.
"You sell the animals and move on," Krier said of giving them to someone else to care for if Swails had no money for food. "You take a little bit of a loss and move on."
After Krier denied defense attorney Landon Miller's attempts at delaying the jail sentence until after the holidays, saying she'd carefully considered the timing, Swails was then fingerprinted. His brother, Dan Swails, stood as everyone began filing out and loudly attacked Krier.
"How could you do that?" Dan Swails asked incredulously. "I can't believe you. You don't know anything. You're crazy as hell."
Bailiffs ushered him out, along with the throngs of supporters.
Miller said he planned to file an immediate appeal, hoping to free Swails on bond next week so he could spend the holidays with his family. Krier said she'd make time next week to hear his arguments on his release on bond pending an appeal.
The case was prompted by an anonymous tip about dead and dying cows in March 2004, when Collier County sheriff's deputies and Domestic Animal Services officers were called to a pasture near Westclox and North 15th streets. Some of the cows were so weak they couldn't stand, while others were still alive and were being eaten by turkey vultures. Three were euthanized that day - two too weak to shoo vultures pecking at their eyes - and 117 more were confiscated.
Deputies said there was no suitable drinking water supply for the cows and there was a dead cow in the pond. And although a load of tomatoes had once been delivered, it was evident no food delivery had been made in some time.
After further investigation and necropsies, Swails was arrested a year later, on March 18, 2005, charged with five felony counts of animal cruelty, which carry a maximum penalty of five years in prison, and 115 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty. He posted $100,000 bond three days later and has been free since.
At trial, Collier County Domestic Animal Services Officer Anita Martindale said she'd never forget what she saw that day and described turkey vultures feeding on a cow too weak to fight back. She said three cows, one pregnant, were euthanized that day and two more later, while eight more later died. She nursed the rest back to health and 107 were sold at auction in July 2004.
Swails testified he was having financial problems and doing the best he could to feed the cows. He believed he'd soon be able to move them to a bigger pasture. But a glitch with a land lease forced him to put 74 cows and 35 calves on the smaller pasture and to supplement their food with hay, feed and tomatoes.
In rendering their verdict, jurors cleared him of the felonies, finding he didn't intentionally do something that resulted in the cruel death, or excessive or repeated infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering. To find him guilty of the misdemeanor counts, they only had to find that he deprived the cows of necessary sustenance or shelter. They cleared him on the 115 misdemeanors, but on the felonies, they found him guilty of lesser-and-included misdemeanor charges.
At Friday's sentencing hearing, assistant state attorneys Mara Marzano and Lisa Mead presented two witnesses - Campbell and Sheriff's Sgt. David Estes - to counter Swails' testimony at trial, that the condition of the herd was unusual for him, that they were elderly and sickly at purchase. They also testified he could have sought community help or sold them at auction. Miller repeatedly objected, contending Swails did that.
Miller presented five witnesses, including Swails. His supporters, cattlemen and a 12-year-old girl, praised his knowledge and work, saying he'd never do anything to harm cows.
"He's the animal friendliest cowboy in South Florida," John Charlton testified, noting that he'd trust Swails with everything he owned. | Source: Naples News - Dec 17, 2007
Update posted on Dec 17, 2007 - 2:31PM |
An Immokalee cattleman told a jury Thursday that he makes his living buying and selling cows - not starving them.
Michael Swails, 50, faces 120 animal cruelty charges stemming from the March 2004 discovery of a herd of malnourished cows, at least two too weak to stand and near death, in a barren pasture at Westclox Road and North 15th Street in Immokalee. Five of the charges are for intentional animal cruelty, felonies that each carry a penalty of up to five years in prison. The rest are misdemeanors each punishable by up to a year in jail.
Both sides rested their cases Thursday after a day-and-a-half of testimony from animal control officers, sheriff's deputies and veterinarians. Closing arguments are set for this morning, and the jury is expected to start deliberations later today.
Swails, speaking in a soft voice, told jurors Thursday that a glitch with a land lease forced him into a last-minute decision to put the cows on a smaller pasture that required him to supplement their food with hay and tomatoes. He soon ran into financial problems, he said.
"I was doing everything I could,'' Swails said.
Swails said he has been in the cattle business most of his life but is not a "fourth-generation cowman'' as prosecutors have labeled him. He was cow foreman for A. Duda & Sons until 1981, when he went into business for himself, he said.
He said he has bought and sold cows more than a hundred times, including buying herds that, as well as healthy cows, have underpriced sick cows to fatten up and sell for a profit.
That's what he was doing in 2003 when he paid some $40,000 for 74 cows and 35 calves, he said. His plan was to put them at the Pepper Ranch in Immokalee, but another tenant had not removed his cattle by the time Swails' lease was to begin in January 2004, Swails said. Swails' seller agreed to give him 30 more days to take possession of the cows.
The cows were paid for and on trailers headed for Immokalee when he found out that he still couldn't put them at the Pepper Ranch.
"I had cows coming and nowhere to put them,'' he said.
Under cross-examination by Assistant State Attorney Mara Marzano, Swails acknowledged that he did not know the size of the Westclox pasture when he put the cows there.
"I thought there was more room in the pasture than on the trailer,'' he said.
In March 2004, investigators responding to a complaint found the malnourished herd. Three of the cows were euthanized in the field that day.
Swails said he went to the pasture when he saw the commotion and was confronted by Collier County Sheriff's Office Lt. Jeff Cox, who heads the agency's agricultural bureau. Cox told Swails to write out a sworn statement. Swails, who is dyslexic and has trouble reading and writing, said he struggled with the statement. Cox finished writing the statement, but Swails said the statement doesn't match what he told Cox. Under questioning by Marzano, Swails acknowledged the statement, in his own writing, says the cows were bad, got hay and feed and got worse.
Swails said deputies rounding up the herd on horseback were further stressing the weak cows. He refused to help and left at Cox's direction, Swails said. He was arrested almost a year later.
Collier County Domestic Animal Services confiscated 117 cows from the pasture - an unexplained increase from the 109 cows that Swails said he put there. Domestic Animal Services nursed most of the cows back to health. Two more were euthanized, and another eight eventually died. In July 2004, Domestic Animal Services sold 107 cows at auction.
After the county's expenses, Swails got $21,000 in proceeds from the auction, he said. He said he used most of the money to pay debts. | Source: Naples News - Nov 15, 2007
Update posted on Nov 16, 2007 - 1:12AM |
Testimony is expected to begin Wednesday in what officials call one of the "worst" and "largest" animal abuse cases in Florida history.
Michael Swails is charged with animal cruelty. Investigators say back in 2004 they found one dead cow and more than 100 others malnourished in his pasture, which is near Immokalee.
The surviving animals were nursed back to health and then auctioned off.
If convicted Swails could face a large fine and several years in prison. | Source: NBC 2 - Nov 14, 2007
Update posted on Nov 14, 2007 - 12:24PM |
A judge refused to drop the charges Friday against an Immokalee man facing 120 counts of animal cruelty.
The attorney for Michael Swails, 49, of 17180 Katydid Lane, argued the case should be dismissed because a failure to adequately feed his 120 cows isn't an intentional act of animal cruelty, which is what he's charged with.
Swails faces 120 counts, five of which are felonies. The five felonies are for each cow that died, either of malnutrition or euthanasia because of injuries and starvation. Each felony carries up to five years in prison. The misdemeanors each bring up to a year in jail.
A concerned citizen contacted authorities after seeing dead or dying cows in Swails' pasture near Westclox and North 15th Street in March 2004.
According to the arrest report, Swails told investigators he had financial problems and couldn't afford to buy feed for his livestock. He told authorities he had lost his job and didn't know what to do about his starving cattle.
Investigators found cows had eaten everything available in the pasture and were too weak to stand. There was no water supply for the cows, and there was a dead cow in the pond. One aggressive cow even attacked a horse, goring it in the right rear leg, causing a 4-inch cut. Some cows were being eaten alive by turkey vultures.
Autopsies of the five dead cows showed they were suffering from a lack of nutrition.
Swails' attorney, Landon Miller, filed a motion to dismiss the case. He argued the animal cruelty statute doesn't criminalize a failure to do something, in this case feed the animals.
State statute says a person who intentionally commits an act to any animal that results in the cruel death, or excessive or repeated infliction of unnecessary pain or suffering, is guilty of a felony.
But prosecutor Mara Marzano argued a failure to properly care for the animals, starving them to death, was an action that by its nature is a criminal offense.
Whether the consequences were intended is irrelevant - the question will be whether Swails' actions were intentional, Circuit Judge Fred Hardt said in ruling against the defense.
"This case is pretty straightforward. We'll put the facts to the jury. I think the jury can figure it out. He can explain why he did what he did and didn't do. He may have perfectly valid reasons, I don't know. That's why we have juries," Hardt said.
The case was moved to a hearing Dec. 11 to set a definite trial date.
The surviving cows were taken to Roberts Ranch in Immokalee and restored of their health by hay, bags of feed and tomatoes and water supplied by Collier County Domestic Animal Services and donations from the public. | Source: Naples News - Nov 18, 2006
Update posted on Nov 18, 2006 - 12:29PM |
| NBC Channel 2 reported that Swails is to be arraigned on April 18 | | Update posted on Mar 21, 2005 - 5:51AM |
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