by Judy Frank
posted January 19, 2007
A Marion County judge laid down the law Friday to attorneys in the aggravated animal abuse trial of Joan Annette Mobley, saying he will allow no more “needlessly cumulative” questions about dozens of animals rescued from the Perry Link Memorial Humane Animal Society in 2005.
Ms. Mobley, 48, was arrested in 2005 after investigators found almost 150 dead, sick and/or neglected animals at the Perry Link shelter, which she operated, and at her home. She is currently charged with 68 counts of aggravated animal abuse.
Friday afternoon, Circuit Judge Thomas W. Graham noted that at least two of the three witnesses called this week were shown photos of the individual animals whose conditions led to the charges against Ms. Mobley, and asked whether they could identify them.
“We’re not going to have any more witnesses that just go down through the 68 animals and try to identify them,” the judge said. “I’m not going to waste this jury’s time bringing in ten people to identify the same animal . . . This is a waste of the court’s time and of the jury’s time.”
His ultimatum came during the testimony of Beth Brock, a former employee of the Humane Educational Society of Chattanooga, who was one of more than a dozen HES workers sent to Perry Link to help rescue the animals there.
When prosecutor Julia Sanders began showing photos of the individual animals to Ms. Brock, the judge interrupted and sent jurors out of the room.
“I think this is needlessly cumulative as to the identities of the animals,” he told the prosecutor. “If you’ve got something new that she can testify to, fine.”
The same rule applies to defense attorney Jes Beard, the judge noted.
After testimony resumed, the prosecutor quickly led Ms. Brock through a series of photos of previously unidentified dogs eventually taken in by a local rescue group at the request of HES.
“I was the one who selected the 13 dogs that went to Vicky Swan (of Tennessee Valley Golden Retrievers),” Ms. Brock explained.
During her cross examination, the defense attorney zeroed in on a photo that Ms. Brock said showed the body of a dead dog lying in a wire cage.
Asked what color the dog was, Ms. Brock said it looked gray in the photo.
Mr. Beard pounced, noting that in prosecution documents the dead dog was described as being “black.”
“Is the rest of your testimony going to be as sound and accurate as this testimony?” he demanded sarcastically.
“I don’t know how to answer that question,” the witness replied, her voice breaking.
“I’m not trying to make you cry, Ms. Brock. Really, I’m not,” Mr. Beard told her.
“He’s made all of us cry, Ms. Brock,” the judge interjected.
Minutes later, as the harsh questioning continued, the witness was openly weeping.
“I’m sorry,” she apologized. “This is so embarrassing.”
She was having a rough time due to a recent death in her family, she explained, before the judge ordered a brief recess.
Earlier Friday, jurors heard hours of testimony from longtime animal rescuer Cindy Davis, who operated the Perry Link shelter until she was fired several months prior to June 2005.
Ms. Davis testified that she visited the shelter several times between early May and June 2, 2005. On each of those occasions, she said, “everything seemed fine.”
But on June 6, when she was asked to come to Perry Link following the discovery of dozens of neglected, sick and dead animals there, conditions were appalling. The facility was filthy, the stench was horrendous and it was “sweatin’ hot” inside the metal building which housed the shelter, she said.
“If you had gone there that day and seen those conditions, would you have made an animal cruelty complaint (to police)?” Ms. Sanders asked.
“Yes, I would,” Ms. Davis replied.
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