Two days in jail, community service and two years probation is a far cry from justice! Also, the meager restitution will not be used to create better lives for these poor dogs.
Not to mention, these innocent creatures now belong to the abuser’s father (Stephen Hessert). How do we know that these dogs aren’t going to spend the rest of their lives on short chains with nothing but a dog house and rusty food bowl for company? The father is also a musher, and nearly the entire mushing community chains their dogs with nothing but huts and bowls. It is the preferred and recommended (by Mush With PRIDE) method of containing sled dogs, though it is quite inhumane.
Stephen is even hoping to return the dogs to his son if he is acquitted! Many people have been asking – where was he when these dogs first entered rescue and were in need of foster homes and supportive care months ago? Only after the dogs had been physically rehabilitated to a healthy state, and claimed to be worth thousands of dollars, did we see this family member (also a musher) step up to take them. This is part of the reason why the volunteers who cared for these dogs in the initial stages are so outraged.
Also, since John accepted a plea agreement, his felony charge was dropped! He is pleading guilty to only two (out of thirty-three) misdemeanor counts of cruelty! Could this case get any worse? Only time will tell. Per the court, he will not be able to own dogs for at least two years. However, judging from the comments which the mushing community has been making about their collective experiences with John since this case began, he should honestly never be able to own a dog again.
A West Yellowstone man accused of abandoning 33 sled dogs without food, water or shelter pleaded guilty Monday to two counts of misdemeanor animal cruelty as part of a plea agreement.
John T. Hessert, 24, wore a vest embroidered with an Iditarod logo as he made his plea before District Judge Holly Brown. His lawyer, Chuck Watson, told the judge that Hessert was remorseful and that his client’s aspirations of becoming a professional musher have already been compromised.
“The long shot of this is Mr. Hessert got overextended and the dogs suffered as a consequence,” Watson said. “He has to live with that. He has a conscience.”
Hessert initially pleaded not guilty to one felony count of aggravated animal cruelty and 33 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty. The felony charge was dropped as part of the plea agreement.
According to court records, a man called animal control Jan. 30 to report that the dogs were being kept in an unsafe environment outside West Yellowstone near Targhee Pass.
A veterinarian examined the dogs and determined that they were all “well below normal health and had not been being fed enough food,” according to court records. One of the dogs had a collar embedded in its neck and other dogs had frostbite.
Most of the dogs were transported to Hessert’s father’s 96-acre property in Maine while the criminal case was pending.
Hessert’s plea agreement also requires him to pay $27,855 in restitution to volunteers who cared for the dogs while the case was being investigated. He must serve 100 hours of community service, two days in the Gallatin County Detention Center and two years of probation.
Hessert will not be allowed to own or be in control of a dog for two years.
Hessert’s father, Stephen Hessert, is an attorney and an accomplished dogsledder who made the news in 2003 when he was struck from behind by a snowmobiler in northern New Hampshire while training for a 250-mile dogsled race. The snowmobiler didn’t stop and another snowmobiler found Hessert unconscious and got him out of the woods on the dogsled.
Hessert was hospitalized and underwent multiple surgeries, and had titanium rods inserted in both legs.
Source: The Boston Globe
Many of the volunteer foster caretakers were on hand Monday, for the examinations and to say goodbye to the dogs they had cared for since March. But all said they were upset by Brown’s decision.
“I honestly think it’s a joke,” said Roger “Rodeo” Vincent of West Yellowstone. Vincent is a neighbor of Hessert’s who initially called authorities to check on the dogs.
“What happens to the dogs after they leave the state?” Vincent asked. “What happens when that kid is found guilty? What happens when those dogs are **** near dead again?”
Jeanne Knox, another volunteer caretaker agreed.
“We do not understand at all Judge Brown’s decision to let the dogs out of the state,” Knox said.
Stephen Hessert, an attorney, said he was confident his son would be acquitted, and that he would give the dogs the best care possible. He agreed to return the dogs for the trial if asked to do so by the court, and to keep his son away from the dogs until after the trial.
“I do think there have been a lot of misstatements and misunderstandings in this case,” he said. “I would like to thank all the people who’ve been taking care of these dogs, and they can rest assured they will continue to be well taken care of.”
As the dogs were being loaded into the elder Hessert’s truck – fitted with 26 straw-floored pens for the 2,500 mile trip to Maine, volunteer Terry Cunningham said he wasn’t satisfied.
“I wonder if the judge and the county attorney’s office really have the best interests of these animals at heart,” Cunningham said.
Source: Bozeman Daily Chronicle
Hessert’s trial is scheduled to begin on August 13. He is represented by attorney Chuck Watson. His father Stephen Hessert, a managing partner in a Maine law firm, requested custody of the dogs until the case is decided, a move that was opposed by the County Attorney’s office. On May 12, Judge Holly Brown granted the request; Stephen Hessert will transport the dogs to Maine. The senior Hessert testified at the hearing that he has been monetarily assisting his son’s mushing efforts, and that he intends to return the dogs to his son if he is acquitted.
John Worsfold, the Deputy County Attorney who was trying the Hessert case, is relocating to California to continue his law career. Worsfold said he was disappointed in the ruling. “The Judge’s decision contradicts the clear and well defined intent of the Legislature who wrote the law regarding the return of seized property.”
Candace Hamlin, a volunteer who provided care for Hessert’s dogs at the county barn, fears the case is heading in the wrong direction. “After everything these dogs have endured at the hands of JT Hessert, the possibility that they might one day be given back to him is unthinkable. That would be the height of injustice.”
Source: Bozeman Talks
All photographs from Pet-Abuse.com or the above linked news articles.
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