Farmed animal neglect
Flint, MI (US)Incident Date: Thursday, May 15, 2003
County: Genesee
Disposition: Convicted
Defendant/Suspect: Robert Choate
A Flint area man was found guilty for an animal cruelty charge following a daylong jury trial in Crawford County District Court. The jury of three men and three women delivered the guilty verdict for Robert Choate, 59, of Burton after about 90 minutes of deliberations.
Choate faces up to 93 days in jail, a $1,000 fine and 200 hours of community service when he is sentenced by 46th Circuit District Court Judge John G. Hunter at 9 a.m. on Tuesday, Jan. 31, for animal cruelty-abandonment.
Choate was accused of violating a state law passed in 1931 which requires people who own animals or livestock to provide food, water, shelter and reasonably sanitary conditions for the animals.
The Choates had been keeping chickens, rabbits, turkeys and ducks on their property located off of Old 27 in Beaver Creek Township.
Grayling attorney Donald Sommerfeld Jr. said Choate is an over-the-road truck driver. Sommerfeld said Choate and his wife, Anthansia, would feed and water the animals on the weekend before going back on the road.
Deanne Whiteside, who lives nearby the Choates, said she has complained to Beaver Creek Township and county animal control and zoning officials regarding the animals. A citizen is required to have a permanent residence on their property in order to have animals and the Choates just had a camper trailer on the property.
"I was concerned that no one was doing anything," Whiteside said.
Beaver Creek Township residents Gerald and Vivian Balmes stopped at the Choate's property on May 15, 2003 after going by several times and not seeing anyone there.
Gerald Balmes said they noticed a number of dead chickens and rabbits on the property, as well as carcasses of chickens in a burn pile. He said he fed and watered the animals since containers in their pens were empty.
Balmes noted that the weather was unusually hot and dry and he did not see tire tracks leading into the property.
"No one had been in or out of there for quite awhile," Gerald Balmes said.
Anthansia Choates said the couple got their first chickens from another truck driver, then bought more from the Tractor Supply Company store. She said they would buy hundreds of pounds of food for the animals, and would haul gallons of water from a nearby truck stop.
"I would let my house payment get behind so I could take care of my animals," she said.
Dave Sabin, the assistant county prosecutor, said the Choates had no business trying to be weekend livestock owners.
"He was playing farmer and he was not doing a good job at it," Sabin said.
Sommerfeld argued that some of the animals had died due to the dry weather, but there was no proof that the Choates did not provide adequate care for the animals.
"We're talking about animals to be eaten and they had no interest in letting them get diseases," Sommerfeld said.
A warrant to arrest Choate for the animal cruelty charge was not issued until Jan. 29, 2004 since it took county law enforcement officials time to process the case. Choate was not arrested until Aug. 10, 2005 because authorities waited until they were observed on the property to serve him with the warrant. References« MI State Animal Cruelty Map
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