Animal Cruelty Charges Dropped Against U.S. Senator’s Son
The son of U.S. Senator Jeff Flake (R-Ariz.) won’t be facing animal cruelty charges, at least for the time being.
The dismissed charges could be refiled later, however.
As previously reported by The Inquisitr, some 23 dogs tragically died of apparent heat exhaustion in June at Green Acre Dog Boarding in Gilbert, Arizona, while the owners were in Florida and left their daughter and son-in-law Austin Flake to watch over the kennel.
As a result of the incident, Flake and his wife were subsequently indicted on 28 charges of animal cruelty, while kennel owners Jesse Todd Hughes and Maleisia Hughes faced 29 animal cruelty charges and one count of fraud.
The Maricopa County prosecutor recently dropped all the charges against the parties, except for the fraud count, based on the emergence of additional information pertinent to the case relating to a clogged air filter.
“However, new evidence brought to prosecutors’ attention by defense lawyers after the case was presented to a grand jury showed the kennel’s air-conditioning unit had stopped working because of a dirty air-filter. The indictment returned in October blamed the dogs’ deaths on neglect by the defendants,” Reuters explained.
The original theory apparently put forward by the owners was that one of the canines chewed through the electrical cord of an air conditioning unit.
According to an investigation by detectives with the office of Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio, who is nationally known as an illegal immigration foe, “the wire had no connection to the unit’s performance,” the Arizona Republic reported.
Arpaio suggested that the investigation is still open, and expressed optimism that charges against the responsible parties will be resubmitted to a new grand jury.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bjCZy2G4g00
Responding to the news that the charges had been dropped, John Schill, the dog owners’ attorney, said that his clients “are blown away. They are just in shock and really disappointed. They have lost their Christmas. The timing of this could not be worse. My clients considered these dogs family members. This is their first Christmas without their dogs.”
The lawyer representing Austin Flake and his wife insisted, however, that “this case never should have been brought in the first place, and we expect that after any further review the County Attorney will not find additional evidence to support bringing charges again.”
A Facebook page called The Tragedy at Green Acre Dog Boarding Gilbert, AZ continues to follow developments in the case with the purpose of seeking justice for the dogs who perished and their grieving families.
[Image via YouTube]
Kennel owner Maleisa Hughes met with the media shortly after this tragedy.
