LOCAL : Farmer Exonerated in Dog Death
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A San Fernando Superior Court judge has ruled that a Canyon Country rancher charged with cruelty to animals for shooting a neighbor’s dog had a right to kill the animal because it was trespassing on his property and threatening his livestock.
Judge John P. Farrell on Monday dismissed the charges against Ernest Lynn Reubens, 59, who shot Freckles, a brown and white springer spaniel belonging to 4-year-old Erica Owen. Farrell said he based his decision on a section of the Food and Agriculture Code that allows livestock owners to shoot any dog trespassing on their property.
Farrell dismissed the charges after the closing arguments in Reubens’ second trial. The first trial ended in a mistrial in December. In that trial, Judge Ronald S. Coen ruled that the agriculture code section did not apply.
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