1 month in jail for man who shot his mini horse
John Nelson Price had a reason for why he shot his miniature horse. But that didn't hold legal standing with retired District Court Judge R. Patrick Hayman, who heard the case.
Hayman found Price, 55, of Westover guilty on all four counts he faced –– two counts of reckless endangerment, animal cruelty and aggravated animal cruelty –– in a trial Monday, July 6, in District Court in Princess Anne.
Hayman sentenced Price to one month of active time in jail. He'd sentenced him to a year on each count, to be served concurrently, but suspended 11 months of the sentence. Price will then be on unsupervised probation for three years, Hayman said.
Price testified he shot the horse because he couldn't get it to come back after it got out, and since it was getting dark, he didn't want it to get out into the road and cause a car crash.
Bill Kennedy Jr. said the evening of May 2 he was outside and had chased his neighbor Price's horse out of his yard, as Price isn't allowed on Kennedy's property. The adjacent property is owned by Price's wife and/or Price –– and Price lived in a house three houses down from Kennedy's.
Kennedy testified he heard a gunshot and saw the horse go down. Price then walked away, Kennedy said.
He described himself as being "in shock" about Price shooting the horse and leaving.
He said he asked Price, " 'Are you (expletive) crazy?' "
Kennedy said the horse remained alive for about three or four minutes after the shooting, and it was squealing. That squealing was what Hayman brought up right before he announced his guilty verdicts.
Trooper 1st Class Jordan Monk of the Princess Anne barrack said he spoke with Kennedy's wife, Rebecca Kennedy, after the shooting, and he also spoke with Price, who admitted to shooting his horse and also asked what laws he'd broken. Monk saw the horse was shot in the head, he said.
Price testified about how he and a friend were trying to get the horse to come back. Price said he used apple biscuits and took another horse out to try to lure him back.
He named other situations in which animals had gotten out and caused crashes, and said he's responsible for that horse.
"I had to stop that animal before it got on the road," Price said –– if he wouldn't be able to see it, he wasn't sure how a driver would.
He had just sold that horse's brother for $2,000, he said. So he said he basically lost $2,000 by shooting the horse.
Price said it was dead once he shot it.
"I had no other choice," Price said.
Somerset County Deputy State's Attorney Wess Garner said in closing that he didn't believe Price had a good reason to shoot his horse, and the horse was not sick or causing harm to others. Price also fired a high-powered rifle not far from Bill and Rebecca Kennedy, in a residential area, Garner said –– that was who the reckless endangerment charges related to.
Assistant Public Defender Daniel Eliezer said when Price shot the horse, it was on his own property, and an agriculture code states that killing a horse with a single shot –– as there was in this case –– was humane.
Hayman interjected during both the state and defense's closing arguments, as well as while Price's pastor spoke on his behalf during sentencing. One thing Hayman noted was that there was no testimony about Price checking to see where the Kennedys were before he fired.
Garner said it wasn't the first time Price has killed animals –– he brought up a past case that involved the killing of three dogs.
Eliezer said Price is a good person and a father who's involved in his community. He was doing what he thought was the right thing, Eliezer said.
Eliezer asked if an appeal bond could be set, but Hayman said that coudn't be considered until an appeal was noted.
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