Lykins v. State

726 N.E.2d 1265, 2000 Ind. App. LEXIS 564, 2000 WL 387087
CourtIndiana Court of Appeals
DecidedApril 18, 2000
Docket21A01-9901-CR-20
StatusPublished
Cited by16 cases

This text of 726 N.E.2d 1265 (Lykins v. State) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Indiana Court of Appeals primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Lykins v. State, 726 N.E.2d 1265, 2000 Ind. App. LEXIS 564, 2000 WL 387087 (Ind. Ct. App. 2000).

Opinion

OPINION

SHARPNACK, Chief Judge

Glen Lykins appeals his convictions for three counts of neglect of a vertebrate animal, all class B misdemeanors. 1 Glen raises five issues, which we restate as:

1) whether there was sufficient evidence to support Glen’s convictions for neglect of a vertebrate animal;
2) whether the trial court erred in ordering Glen to pay for labor and materials to construct structures for the maintenance of the horses and for veterinary bills while they were in the custody and care of the county;
3) whether Glen was convicted of an offense with which he was not charged;
4) whether Glen received ineffective assistance of counsel; and
5) whether the trial court’s questioning of Glen regarding his finances during his sentencing resulteftim-aviolation of his Fifth Amendment right not to incriminate himself. /

We affirm.

The facts most favorable to the conviction follow. In 1997, Glen owned three horses, Cody, a nine year old paint gelding, Rusty, a four year old sorrel gelding, and Lady, a four year old bay mare. All three horses were in his care and custody. In January of 1997, Gerald Lykins, Glen’s cousin, began receiving numerous phone calls from people, who mistakenly believed that he was Glen, complaining about the poor condition of the horses. Gerald told the callers that he would relay their concerns to Glen. Mac Lykins, who is Glen’s uncle, also received a phone call from someone complaining about the condition of Glen’s horses. The caller threatened to “turn [Glen] in” because the horses were not fed. Mac promised the caller that he would feed the horses. Both Gerald and Mac had observed that Glen’s horses were very thin, did not have food, and were kept in a muddy area with no bedding. On at least one occasion, Mac and Gerald went to Glen’s and provided the horses with enough hay to feed the horses for approximately ten days. Both Gerald and Mac informed Glen that they had received calls regarding the poor condition of the horses and informed Glen that they had taken the hay over to Glen’s horses in response to phone calls complaining about their condition.

In January of 1997, the Fayette County Sheriffs Department also began receiving complaints that when the callers had passed by Glen’s property, they observed that the horses were being neglected. In addition, Gerald had contacted the Sheriffs department about the complaints that he was receiving. In mid-January, Sergeant Jack Jones from the Sheriffs Department went to Glen’s home and observed that “[t]he horses were in very bad condition” and were kept in a bare lot with no access to food. Record, p. 250. Sergeant Jones told Glen about the complaints and voiced his opinion that the horses were being neglected. Glen told Sergeant Jones that he could not locate any hay to purchase to feed the horses. Sergeant Jones, also a horse owner, told Glen that *1269 hay was available, but that the price was higher then average. Sergeant Jones gave Glen the name of an individual that was selling hay.

A few weeks later, Sergeant Jones received a call from an animal shelter reporting that someone had contacted it regarding the poor condition of the horses. In addition, anonymous complaints had been made to the Sheriffs Department. Sergeant Jones went to Glen’s to see if Glen had acquired any hay for the horses yet. Although Glen had not yet obtained any hay, he had purchased some alfalfa cubes to feed to the horses. Glen told Sergeant Jones that he had not been able to acquire any hay and even if he did, he did not have a way to haul it. Sergeant Jones told Glen that he would haul the hay for him and also pointed out that Glen could ask one of Glen’s many relatives that had trucks to pick up the hay.

Approximately two weeks later, Sergeant Jones went to Glen’s again. By this time, Glen had purchased hay, but he was not feeding them enough to improve their condition. To maintain a horse in normal condition, it should be fed approximately ten pounds of grain per day and two flakes of hay, but Glen was feeding his horses only a cup of grain and two flakes of hay each per day. The horses were still in “terrible shape” and because they were kept in a bare muddy lot with feces it was likely that they had contracted many parasites in their system. Record, p. 271. Sergeant Jones told Glen that he would continue to monitor the horses. However, the investigation was taken over by Sergeant Michelle Dudley.

Then, on March 17, 1997, Vicki Turner, who had been around horses her whole life, called the Sheriffs Department and told Sergeant Dudley that she was “furious about the poor condition” of Glen’s horses. Record, p. 282. She said that the horses were living in a dried up “muddy pit” and that the horses had nothing to eat and no bedding. She further described the horses as:

“very poor looking. They were looked like they had been starved. They had, I couldn’t see no food. Their hips were, their bones were sticking out. Their backbones were sticking out. Their ribs were showing. Their hair was matted, it was very coarse looking. They seemed to be very lifeless. They were just very in terrible condition.”

Record, pp. 272-273. Turner reported that she had checked on the horses for four of the last five days and never saw any food available for them. In addition, she purchased some hay and fed it to the horses. She did not encounter any problems in purchasing hay.

On March 18,1997, Sergeant Jones, Sergeant Dudley, and Sheriff Harold Steel along with Dr. Warren Buhler, the state veterinarian, went to Glen’s residence with a search warrant to inspect the physical condition of the horses and the premises. Dr. Buhler did a visual inspection of the horses and used a Purdue University Veterinary School scale of one to nine, with nine being an extremely fat horse and one being an extremely emaciated horse to evaluate the horses’ health. He rated Glen’s horses as being in category two condition, which includes horses that are very thin and emaciated. The bones of all the horses were protruding to such an extent that from a distance of fifty to one hundred feet you could “count [their] ribs.” Record, p. 345. One of the horses had advanced pustule dermatitis, an infection of the skin which is caused by improper nutrition. Dr. Buhler also observed that the horses were being kept in an extremely muddy lot with muddy stalls and no place to rest. Based upon this evidence, Dr. Buhler labeled the horses as neglected. Dr. Buhler noted that Glen had an adequate amount of fair quality hay and grain to feed the horses. Dr. Buhler instructed Glen to provide the horses with a twenty-four hour continuous supply of hay to eat, to feed them grain twice a day increasing the amounts gradually, and treat the horses for any parasites that they might have. *1270 Due to the poor condition of the horses, Dr. Buhler also told Glen that the horses should be checked by a veterinarian, and treated by a veterinarian in order to eliminate any parasites.

Later that evening, Sergeant Dudley returned to Glen’s to check on whether the horses were being provided with continuous access to hay pursuant to Dr. Buhler’s instructions.

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
726 N.E.2d 1265, 2000 Ind. App. LEXIS 564, 2000 WL 387087, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/lykins-v-state-indctapp-2000.