Can you be charged for animal cruelty if there is no evidence of how the dog died or exactly when?
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Can you be charged for animal cruelty if there is no evidence of how the dog died or exactly when?
My husband was asked to feed and water his aunt’s dogs. The dogs had injuries previous to his aunt leaving town. They were fine Saturday when they were gone and they returned Sunday and the cops showed up to let them know that 1 of the dogs was dead and the others had been out. They told the cops that my husband was asked to take care of them. There was an autopsy done on the dog and no pictures of it as far as I know.
Asked on August 24, 2011 Colorado
Answers:
SJZ, Member, New York Bar / FreeAdvice Contributing Attorney
Answered 12 years ago | Contributor
It may be possible to charge someone with animal cruelty in the absence of direct evidence of any acts he did. It works like this: suppose it can be shown, such as with credible testimony, that on Saturday the dogs were fine (i.e. either no injuries or no life threatening injuries). The dogs were in your husband's care. Sometime during his care, when no one else had access to the dogs, a dog was injured or killed. If the dog had been fine, then when the only person with access to it was your husband, it suffered significant injuries; if there was no other way for those injuries to come about, that may be enough to establish your husband as the source of the injuries.
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