Bona Trial Begins

Details

Created on Wednesday, 19 November 2014 20:13

Written by Ryan Rutledge

ST. JOHNSBURY - Bruce Bona appeared in Caledonia County court today to defend himself against the twenty-one charges of animal cruelty from the state.

"I'm here to deny all of these allegations. The state, their witnesses have tried to be nice, but they lied," said Bona during his opening statements.
Recently the ranch owner was denied the motion to suppress evidence and he objected nearly all of the state's accusations against him.
During the first day of hearings only one witness made it to the stand, animal control officer Cindy Cady. Cady took pictured of the horses back in March and those photographs are now being used as evidence.
During her testimony she was asked to identify the horses and examine how the pictures were taken. State's Attorney Lisa Warren recalled in her opening statements the scene that Cady witnessed the day she took photos of the horses.
"Pat Mitchell and Cindy Cady were able to see eight horses out in the pasture at the ranch property but they didn't see the remaining thirteen horses. Each of those eight horses, they will tell you had protruding ribs, vertebrae and hind quarters, and some of them had cracked hooves," Warren explained.
Since Bona is representing himself in the trial none of his statements can be used as evidence until he takes the stand, and that's if he decides to do so.
The trial is set to continue tomorrow, November 20th, at 8:30 am.