This is what she was charged under...I highlighted in red what might be the catch all she got charged under....who knows the truth.....certainly not I.
California Penal Code Section 597
(a) Except as provided in subdivision (c) of this section or Section 599c, every person who maliciously and intentionally maims, mutilates, tortures, or wounds a living animal, or maliciously and intentionally kills an animal, is guilty of an offense punishable by imprisonment in the state prison, or by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment, or, alternatively, by imprisonment in a county jail for not more than one year, or by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000), or by both the fine and imprisonment. (b) Except as otherwise provided in subdivision (a) or (c), every person who overdrives, overloads, drives when overloaded, overworks, tortures, torments, deprives of necessary sustenance, drink, or shelter, cruelly beats, mutilates, or cruelly kills any animal, or causes or procures any animal to be so overdriven, overloaded, driven when overloaded, overworked, tortured, tormented, deprived of necessary sustenance, drink, shelter, or to be cruelly beaten, mutilated, or cruelly killed; and whoever, having the charge or custody of any animal, either as owner or otherwise, subjects any animal to needless suffering, or inflicts unnecessary cruelty upon the animal, or in any manner abuses any animal, or fails to provide the animal with proper food, drink, or shelter or protection from the weather, or who drives, rides, or otherwise uses the animal when unfit for labor, is, for every such offense, guilty of a crime punishable as a misdemeanor or as a felony or alternatively punishable as a misdemeanor or a felony and by a fine of not more than twenty thousand dollars ($20,000).
In addition th the catch-all for abuse, looking at the horse in the photo it looks obvious that it didn't get enough food. I wonder what the details are. Were the horses at her farm?
-- Edited by Laura F on Monday 9th of January 2012 09:09:06 PM
The story was picked up by Yahoo news, which is a really credible news source. .I tend to think where there's smoke there's fire when it comes to abuse of horses, dogs, people, etc. Maybe that's just my experience, but regardless of the rescue operation, that horse looked terrible. I wonder why she hasn't spoken up through her lawyer.