Miller v. State

952 N.E.2d 292, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 1369, 2011 WL 3163491
Indiana Court of Appeals·Decided July 27, 2011·No. No. 64A03-1008-CR-543·Published·Cited by 5 cases

Opinion

OPINION

BARNES, Judge.

Case Summary

James Miller appeals his convictions for two counts of Class A misdemeanor neglect of a vertebrate animal. We affirm.

Issues

Miller raises two issues, which we restate as:

I. whether there is sufficient evidence to support his convictions; and
II. whether the manner in which the animals were confiscated requires the reversal of his convictions.
Facts
In 2009, Miller owned two horses, which he kept on his property. From May to September of 2009, after receiving complaints from neighbors about the horses, employees of the Porter County Animal Control and Adoption Center (“the PCAC”) went to Miller’s property on at least three occasions to inspect the horses. During the May 2009 inspection, Miller was informed that the horses were too thin. The PCAC visited the property again that summer and left a tag on Miller’s door in an effort to contact him. On September 7, 2009, Judy Bonaventura, the director of the PCAC, checked on the horses and found them to be “very skinny” and without food or water. Tr. p. 6. The next day, with the assistance of the Porter County Sheriffs Department, the PCAC seized the horses and delivered them to Dr. Jerry Rodenbarger, a veterinarian.
Dr. Rodenbarger examined the horses and determined the horses were “inappropriately skinny,” which was caused by them not getting enough to eat. Id. at 96. He stated that the horses were receiving, substandard care and “that they were not being fed adequately.” Id. at 83. The horses were anemic and had elevated muscle enzymes. He described the horses as being “in poor body condition.” Id. at 67. He explained that, based on an Equine Body Conditions Scoring chart, on a scale from one to nine, a five is perfect conditioning. Horses rating below five are thinner and horses rating above a five are fatter. A rating from four to six was within the realm of normal and healthy. Dr. Rodenbarger explained that anything rating three or below “is in trouble and it’s not healthy.” Id. at 72. Based on a visual and hands on assessment, Dr. Rodenbar-ger classified one horse as a 1.5 and the other as a 2.5.
The horses were not returned to Miller, and on September 18, 2009, the State charged him with two counts of Class A misdemeanor neglect of a vertebrate animal, alleging that he failed to provide adequate food and water to the horses. A jury found Miller guilty of both counts. He now appeals.

Analysis

I. Sufficiency of the Evidence

Miller argues that the evidence is insufficient to support his convictions. The standard of review for claims of insufficient evidence is well settled. We do not reweigh the evidence or judge the credibility of the witnesses, and we respect the jury’s exclusive province to weigh conflicting evidence. Jackson v. State, 925 N.E.2d 369, 375 (Ind.2010). We consider only the probative evidence and reasonable inferences supporting the verdict and affirm if the probative evidence and reasonable inferences drawn from the evidence could have allowed a reasonable trier of fact to find the defendant guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Id.

[294] . A person who has a vertebrate animal in his or her custody and recklessly, knowingly, or intentionally abandons or neglects the animal commits cruelty to an animal, a Class A misdemeanor. Ind.Code 35^46-3-7(a). “Neglect” means in part to endanger an animal’s health by failing to provide or to arrange to provide the animal with food or drink, if the animal is dependent upon the person for such. I.C. § 35-46-3-0.5. At a minimum, the State was required to prove that Miller was reckless, which is defined as engaging in conduct “in plain, conscious, and unjustifiable disregard of harm that might result and the disregard involves a substantial deviation from acceptable standards of conduct.” I.C. § 35-41-2-2(c).

Miller claims there is insufficient evidence to support his convictions because, although they were skinny, “there were no other corresponding ailments or injuries due to the skinniness.” Appellant’s Br. p. 10. He contends that he provided the horses with food and water and it was his philosophy, based on reading seventy-five to 100 books, to keep the horses thin for the benefit of their health and that he had kept them in that manner for a long period of time.

Miller’s testimony purported to show that it was his belief that he was saving the horses’ health because too much fat on a horse leads to adverse health issues. Miller’s testimony also shows that in May 2009, an officer from PCAC went to Miller’s property, informed Miller he was investigating a complaint that the horses were without water, and told Miller the horses were too thin. See Tr. p. 152. Miller also testified that he had been “under a microscope” for a long time because of the weight of the horses. Id. at 153. Miller explained that he was aware that someone had an “unusual interest” in his horses, so he only kept a small amount of grain in the barn to prevent “some do-gooder” from overfeeding them. Id. at 149, 150. He stated that, when he came home to find that someone had fed the horses without his permission, he had no idea how much they had been fed, so for the next twenty-four hours he did not feed them anything. He testified, “I had no choice but to observe them closely and make sure it worked through their system.” Id. at 150.

Regardless of Miller’s philosophy regarding equine health, Dr. Rodenbarger explained that the horses were consuming less food than they needed and “that the care these horses were receiving was substandard, and that they were not being fed adequately.” Id. at 83. Dr. Rodenbarger testified that the horses were anemic, which was caused by poor nutrition and parasite levels. He also testified that they had elevated muscle enzymes, indicating the breakdown of muscle after fat stores had been used or loss of strength. The evidence is sufficient to establish that Miller recklessly endangered the animals’ health by failing to provide them adequate food so as to neglect the horses. To the extent he argues otherwise, Miller is asking us to reweigh the evidence. We decline to do so.

II. Confiscation of Horses

Miller also argues his convictions should be reversed because the statutory requirements for confiscating the animals were not followed. Miller acknowledges he has been unable to locate case law mandating reversal and contends the appropriate standard of review is de novo.

Indiana Code Section 35-46-3-6 provides:

(a) This section does not apply to a vio[295] lation of section It[1] of this chapter. (b) Any law enforcement officer or any other person having authority to impound animals who has probable cause to believe there has been a violation of this chapter or IC 15-20-1-4 may take custody of the animal involved.

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Miller v. State, 952 N.E.2d 292, 2011 Ind. App. LEXIS 1369, 2011 WL 3163491 (Ind. Ct. App. 2011).

952 N.E.2d 292 (Miller v. State) — published by Counsel Stack Legal Research, free access to 12M+ legal documents.

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