FARMINGTON – Carol Murphy cried Thursday as she testified about coming home from work last March to find the headless body of her horse in her barn in New Sharon.
Murphy, 60, took the stand in Franklin County Superior Court on the second day of her trial on charges of animal cruelty and illegal possession of animals.
The state accused her after seizing 60 or so animals in and outside her Lane Road house last March.
A state veterinarian euthanized the horse after being called by a Farmington woman and a state animal humane agent.
The sick animal couldn’t get up from the 6-inch-deep muck of manure and urine it was lying in and had a collapsed rectum, state veterinarian Dr. Christine Fraser testified Thursday.
Its head was sent to the state laboratory for testing.
State prosecutor Andrew Robinson and defense attorney Andrews Campbell showed more photos of the animals’ conditions and living quarters Thursday.
Most of the animals, which included cows, calves, sheep, ponies, pigs, peacocks, flying squirrels, geese, dogs, birds, rabbits and chinchillas, lived in the house. A pile of dead ones – two sheep, two calves and a pony or donkey – were found outside the kitchen door.
Murphy claimed that several of the pictures were not taken on March 22, as stated. She also claimed that someone must have broken into her home and tried to make it look like she didn’t keep her animals fed, watered and cleaned.
“Everything was clean; I knew they (state officials) were coming,” she said.
When asked why she didn’t put down an emaciated turkey, Murphy said, “I’m not going to kill it just because it’s defective.”
Murphy said she had moved to Maine from Massachusetts about 18 months before the state seized her animals. She said she spent $7,000 on veterinarians’ services between Dec. 1, 2003, and March 22, 2004.
She talked about her animals, many bought at auction, using their names and told the court about bottle-feeding calves and goats and a plan to breed hedgehogs and chinchillas.
She also said she was sick in December 2003 and didn’t do as good a job caring for her animals as she should have.
Defense witnesses told the jury Murphy bought hay from them during 2002 and 2003. Veterinarian E.L. Cooper also stated he made farm calls a couple times in 2003 to give animals shots, and Murphy invited him into her house on March 18, 2004. He said it was clean and the animals appeared well cared-for.
On Thursday, Fraser walked the jurors through the home using the visuals to help tell what she saw in each room. She described the air quality as being very poor, with a strong odor of ammonia, feces and urine. She also said many of the cages, or places the animals were kept, were filthy. She said a room and stairway where dogs were kept had feces, shavings and urine all the way up to the landing. She also said most animals didn’t have food or water.
Veterinarian Robert Patterson said he conducted autopsies on several animals from Murphy’s farm, and the causes of death included starvation, dehydration and hypothermia.
Campbell said Murphy did her best to care for the animals, many of which were sick before she bought them. He said what she did wasn’t criminal; she loved her animals and tried to care for them.
The jury is scheduled to start deliberations Friday on the charges of misdemeanor animal cruelty and possessing four animals without state permits. Justice Joseph Jabar is presiding over the case.
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