Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: THURSDAY, April 4, 1991 TAG: 9104040438
SECTION: VIRGINIA PAGE: B-1 EDITION: BEDFORD/FRANKLIN
SOURCE: MONICA DAVEY STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: BEDFORD LENGTH: Medium
Attorneys on both sides argued the case - angrily at times - for more than four hours Wednesday afternoon in a cramped General District courtroom.
In the end, Judge James Brice found the 14 guilty of attending a cockfight and sentenced them each to a $50 fine. They could have been fined as much as $500.
Eight of the defendants also were convicted of the more serious charge of cruelty to animals, which carries a possible jail sentence.
Brice gave each a one-year suspended sentence and ordered them to reimburse the county for the costs of keeping their gamecocks since the fight. That cost will total $1,380.
The convictions did not come without a legal battle.
Conceding that there was unquestionably a cockfight at the western Bedford County barn, defense attorney Drew Davis tried to poke technical legal holes in the arrests, the arrest warrants and the charges.
Davis said the warrants were tainted, pointing out that some of them had a blank space where Bedford County Sheriff Carl Wells' name was required.
Also, he said, the warrants listed an outdated code number for some of the charges. And, he suggested, the Roanoke detectives who raided the cockfight were not certified to make Bedford arrests.
But Brice ruled that the detectives were properly qualified. And he allowed prosecutor James Updike to amend the warrants to add the sheriff's name and add the appropriate, up-to-date code number.
On the charges of attending a cockfight, Davis also stressed that prosecution witnesses had not shown that his clients paid money for admission or placed any bets - requirements for deeming such a fight illegal.
But Brice said he was satisfied with testimony from the undercover detectives that cockfight organizers took $10 admission fees.
Davis told the judge that the law on cockfighting was contradictory.
Cockfighting itself is legal in Virginia, Davis said. Yet, he said, those charged with cruelty to animals had been charged based on the fact that they participated in a cockfight.
"There's no question that the legislature has made an error by setting both statutes," Davis said.
But Updike said cruelty came into play with the method of fighting the birds. Sharp metal spurs were placed on their legs, leading some of the fighters to bleed, at least eight to die and three others to be severely injured, Updike said.
"The point is: Did the chickens suffer?" Brice said before rendering his decision.
Outside the courtroom, Davis pledged to appeal the ruling to Bedford Circuit Court. "Absolutely," he said.
Other people accused of watching the fight will face similar charges at a separate trial in June.
The fate of the birds, meanwhile, remains undecided. Their owners have appealed a ruling that they be put to death. That case will be heard next month.
by CNB