MS. LAMP: Your Honor, the People call Pat Davis to the stand.
THE COURT: Step up here, ma’am. Stop and raise your right hand. Do you solemnly swear or affirm the testimony you will give at this hearing will be the truth, so help you God?
MS. DAVIS: Yes.
THE COURT: Come on around here. Watch your step coming up. That chair is on rollers, to be careful.
THE WITNESS: Okay.
THE COURT: And the microphone won’t make you any louder, so I need you to speak up loudly and distinctly for all of us. Okay?
THE WITNESS: Okay.
THE COURT: State your full name.
THE WITNESS: Patricia A. Davis.
THE COURT: Thank you. Miss Lamp?
PATRICIA
A. DAVIS
Called at 1:57 p.m. by the People, sworn by the court, testified:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MS. LAMP:
Q. Ms. Davis, where do you live at?
A.
Q. Okay. And how long have you lived there?
A. Two and a half years.
Q. And what is across the street from your residence?
A. The horse farm.
Q. Okay. And during the two and a half years that you’ve lived there, have you made some observations of the activity that goes on at the farm?
A. Yes.
Q. And have you made some observations of the people that go to the farm and care for the horses?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And could you describe what if any changes you’ve noticed over the past two and a half years? As far as the frequency of people going to the farm.
A. It’s not as much as it was in the beginning when we first moved in. It seemed like in the beginning it was every day, on weekends. Probably the last I would say since December, it’s every five to six weeks.
Q. Okay. And the people that run the farm there, would you recognize them if you saw them?
A. Yes.
Q. Are they here in the courtroom today?
A. Yes.
Q. Could you please point to and identify each person individually?
A. Yes. James Henderson is right here.
Q. What color tie is he wearing?
THE COURT: Can you see the tie?
THE WITNESS: Looks like it’s got some navy, white and red in it.
MS. LAMP: Okay.
THE WITNESS: And Matt Mercier is sitting next to him.
THE COURT: Does he have a button in the lapel of his coat?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: The record will reflect that she’s identified the defendant Mr. Mercier.
BY MS. LAMP:
Q. And Mr., do you see the other person?
A. Yes, Mr. Mercier is sitting next to him.
Q. Okay.
THE COURT: To his left at the far right on the same bench?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: The record will reflect that Miss Davis identified the defendant Mr. Mercier.
BY MS. LAMP:
Q. When was the last time that you saw someone at the farm?
A. Early February.
Q. Okay. And it doesn’t mean that there is not poss—-it’s possible that people were there that you didn’t see at times. Is that correct?
A. Yes.
Q. But did you often see the comings and goings of people to the farm?
A. Yes.
Q. And that’s the last time you remember seeing somebody come there.
A. Yes.
MS. LAMP: Okay. Thank you, Miss Davis. I don’t have any further questions but these gentlemen may.
THE COURT: Mr. Dungan?
CROSS-EXAMINATION (At 1:59 p.m.)
BY MR. DUNGAN:
Q. Good afternoon, Miss Davis.
A. Hi.
Q.
You’re familiar with the entrance to the farm that’s off of
A. Yes.
Q. The driveway that goes up there?
A. Yes.
Q. Where is that driveway in relation to where your home sits on the other side of the street?
A. Probably right at the very corner of our property line to the right of our house.
Q. How close to where your-—I don’t know how big your property is, so how close is that driveway to your house?
A. Well, I’m not very good on distance.
Q. If you look out, if you stand on your front porch can you see that driveway?
A. Yes.
Q. Very easily?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And you had mentioned that you’ve lived there two and a half years?
A. Yes.
Q.
And I would imagine in your two and half years you haven’t considered it
your sole job to watch who comes and goes from the
A. We usually heard them coming and going.
Q. If you were home?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And during the last two and a half years have you held employment?
A. Yes.
Q. Where do you work?
A.
Q. And you’ve worked there the whole two and half years?
A. Yes.
Q. All right. What hours have you worked? As far as your work schedule.
A. It varied. Some six a.m. to two thirty, or eight to four thirty.
Q. All right. Is that five days a week?
A. Yes.
Q. All right. And not to mention the obvious, but obviously during the times that you’re at work you don’t know who’s coming or going from the farm.
A. Correct.
Q. All right. And I believe when you gave a statement and first testified you primarily were able to keep track of the comings and goings on the farm on the weekends. True?
A. On the weekends, yes. For sure.
Q. Because you don’t work on the weekends.
A. Correct.
Q. All right. And you’re not here to testify exactly who’s coming and going then Monday through Friday, are you?
A. No. Well, I saw them in the evenings. They were there in the beginning in the evenings.
Q. Now, do you know the property lines of that farm across the street from you?
A. By the, by the fence line, yes.
Q.
Okay. And you know that that
property also goes I believe it’s
A. Maute Road, yes.
Q.
Maute Road. You’re familiar with
A. Yes.
Q.
And there’s a gate off of
A. Yes.
Q.
And if individuals were entering on to that farm from the
A. You would not see them enter, no.
Q. All right.
A. We would know they were there because you could always hear the diesel of the tractor and the Dodge pickup truck.
Q. Okay. If they weren’t using the tractor you wouldn’t hear it.
A. Correct.
Q. And if they weren’t using the truck you wouldn’t hear it.
A. Correct.
MR. DUNGAN: Okay. I don’t have any other questions, Your Honor.
MR HURST: Just briefly, Your Honor.
CROSS-EXAMINATION (At 2:02 p.m.)
BY MR. HURST:
Q.
You stated, Miss Davis, that you work at the
A. Yes.
Q. How long have you been work-—employed there?
A. Seventeen years.
Q.
Okay. And you’ve worked there the
whole two and a half years that you’ve lived in this area on
A. Yes.
Q. And when you work from six a.m. to two thirty p.m., what time do you leave your home to go to work?
A. Five.
Q. Five a.m.?
A. Mm-Hmm.
Q. Okay. And when you get out of work at two thirty, do you always go directly home?
A. Yes.
Q. And what time do you arrive home?
A. Usually around three thirty.
Q. So when you are working Monday through Friday, six a.m. to two thirty, you’re gone from the area from five a.m. until three thirty p.m.?
A. Yes.
Q. And you also work sometimes eight to four thirty?
A. Occasionally, yes.
Q. How do you know when you’re going to work eight to four thirty? As opposed to six to two thirty.
A. It was a change in positions. Once I took a different position I started working the eight to four thirty.
Q. And when did that change occur?
A. Two years ago.
Q. Okay. So is it safe to say then for the last two years you’ve worked eight a.m. to four thirty?
A. Pretty much.
Q. Okay.
A. Occasionally, it---
Q. And what time would you leave to go to work for the eight a.m. shift?
A. Around seven.
Q. Seven a.m.?
A. Mm-Hmm.
Q. And what time would you get home from work after you got out at four thirty?
A. About five fifteen.
Q.
Okay. And did you ever stop in
A. Not usually, no.
Q.
Okay. So most of the time in the
last two years when you were working Monday through Friday you were gone from
the area of
A. Yes.
MR. HURST: Okay. I have no further questions.
THE
COURT: Miss Lamp, anything further?
MS. LAMP: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Miss Davis, you’ve lived across from this farm for two and a half years. Did I understand that?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: And when you first were there, moved in and such, did you say that the persons were going to the farm I think we have every day in the evenings and then on the weekends as well.
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: And that was at the initial part, every day in the evenings, you’d see them in the evenings.
THE WITNESS: Mm-Hmm, yes, sir.
THE COURT: And then every weekend.
THE WITNESS: Yes, sir.
THE COURT: Would it be a particular time of day during the weekend, on a Saturday or Sunday?
THE WITNESS: Usually during the day. Maybe late morning to early afternoon.
THE COURT: Then you mentioned that since December of last year, 2006.
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: You’ve, I think you stated then you only see persons about every five weeks?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: Would that have been on the weekends, during the week or both?
THE WITNESS: Both.
THE COURT: But the time gap between them is five weeks?
THE WITNESS: Approximately, yes.
THE COURT: Would these two gentlemen, persons that you saw, come and go from the farm area?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE
COURT: Is there one that you saw more
often than the other?
THE WITNESS: I can’t be positive on that.
THE COURT: But certainly it was those, these two gentlemen.
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: Anybody else?
THE WITNESS: Yeah, occasionally there was other people there. They were-—earlier in ’06 you’d see them riding, you know, or I don’t know if they actually have barrels back there, but that type of thing.
THE COURT: Towards the end then was it just those two gentlemen?
THE WITNESS: Pretty much, yes.
THE COURT: And the last time you saw anyone there was early February of this year.
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE
COURT: When you say earlier February,
does that mean the first ten days of February?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: First ten days.
THE WITNESS: Mm-Hmm.
THE COURT: Is that the latest it would have been, February tenth to your recollection?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: Miss Lamp, anything further?
MS. LAMP: No, thank you, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Dungan?
MR. DUNGAN: Yes, Your Honor.
FURTHER CROSS-EXAMINATION (At 2:06 p.m.)
BY MR. DUNGAN:
Q. Miss Davis, when is the last time that you can definitively say that you saw Mr. Mercier at the farm?
A. I can’t say exactly which one I saw. I just knew that they both came and go by vehicles. I don’t know exactly which one was there at which time.
Q. All right. So you’re not saying who was there, who wasn’t there based on the fact that you saw their face. You’re trying to guess who’s inside what particular vehicle.
A. Or out of the vehicle, yes. I knew it was one of them, I just didn’t know which one was there.
Q. Okay. When is the last time that you can say that you saw Mr. Mercier there for sure?
A. I can’t, because in February the last time I saw somebody, I don’t know if it was Mr. Henderson or Mr. Mercier that I saw.
Q. Okay. And then, all right. So the last time you saw anybody was February of ’07.
A. Yes.
Q. And you don’t know who it was.
A. No.
Q. All right. When is the last time before February of ’07 that you saw somebody out there?
A. Around early December.
Q. And do you know who that was?
A. Of either one of them you mean? I don’t know which one, no.
Q. And when is the last time before that you saw someone out at the farm?
A. Probably mid November, Thanksgiving time. Shortly before.
Q. And who was that?
A. I’m not sure.
Q. All right. So since Thanksgiving of 2006, you’ve seen people at the farm three separate times.
A. Yes.
Q. Thanksgiving, early December, and February.
A. Yes.
Q. Three sightings on the farm.
A. Yes.
Q. All right. Don’t know who it was.
A. Don’t know which one of them it was, no.
Q. Or if anybody else could have been driving their car too.
A. Could have been.
Q. Okay. Would you agree with me that if we went from Thanksgiving of 2006 through February of 2007, that those horses had only been fed three times in that time period, that they would all be dead?
A. Might have depended on how much stock they had stored up prior to that. I did see bales of hay in December was the last time.
MR. DUNGAN: I don’t have any other questions, Your Honor.
MR. HURST: Just one, Your Honor.
FURTHER CROSS-EXAMINATION (At 2:09 p.m.)
BY MR. HURST:
Q. So if Mr. Mercier and or Mr. Henderson or any other caretaker of these horses were coming and going to the Turn Three Ranch on Mondays through Fridays between seven a.m. and five fifteen p.m., you wouldn’t know whether they were or not because you were working at U of M.
A. Right.
MR. HURST: Okay, thank you. No further questions.
THE COURT: Do you live with anyone there?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: Who lives with you there?
THE WITNESS: My husband.
THE COURT: What hours does he work?
THE WITNESS: His hours vary. He’s self employed. So they vary. I mean, sometimes he’s home at noon, sometimes it’s in the morning and sometimes it’s mid afternoon.
THE COURT: Is he self employed at the residence?
THE WITNESS: No.
THE COURT: Does he have an office off grounds?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: But his hours, you say he could be home, depends on what the job is I guess.
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: What does he do?
THE WITNESS: He’s a floor covering installer.
THE COURT: Okay. It would depend on the contract that he might have depending what time he leaves?
THE WITNESS: Right.
THE COURT: So he could be there all day then during the day sometimes.
THE WITNESS: Usually when he was he would tell me if he noticed people across the street, because I had made the comment that--
MR. DUNGAN: Your Honor, I would object to hearsay between the two of them and I don’t have an opportunity to cross examine it.
THE COURT: Well, she said that her husband said that he--
MR. DUNGAN: That’s the part that I objected to.
THE COURT: --would tell me when he saw persons there. That’s not an assertion of fact, it’s just what, the activity between the two of them, so I’ll overrule it. Okay. You had talked then when you got home and he got home about any activity across the street.
THE WITNESS: Yes. Mm-Hmm.
THE COURT: Okay. Anything further of Miss Davis?
MR. HURST: No, Your Honor.
MS. LAMP: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Okay. Thank you, Miss Taylor. You may step down, you’re excused. Watch your step as you go down and thanks for your patience with us.
(At 2:11 p.m. witness excused)
THE COURT: Miss Lamp?
MS. LAMP: Your Honor, the People are going to recall Pat Davis.
THE COURT: Okay.
MR. DUNGAN: Who’s next?
THE COURT: She’s recalling Pat Davis.
Come on back up, Miss Davis. You’re still under oath, okay?
Again, watch your step. Same rule on the microphone. Okay?
THE WITNESS: Okay.
THE COURT: Speak up loudly for us. Miss Lamp?
PATICIA
Previously sworn, testified:
DIRECT EXAMINATION
BY MS. LAMP:
Q. Miss Davis, have you been a horse owner in the past?
A. Yes.
Q. And when did you own horses? Approximately.
A. Probably twenty years ago.
Q. Okay. And do you know what a healthy horse looks like?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay.
MR. DUNGAN: Your Honor, I object. These are all questions that could have been asked the first time that she was up there. It isn’t due overtime.
THE COURT: Overruled. Go ahead.
MS. LAMP: Thank you.
BY MS. LAMP:
Q. Why did you stop owning horses?
A. They were too much work. I went to work full time.
Q. Okay. And let me ask you, Ms. Davis, did you have occasion over the two and a half years that you’ve lived across the street from the Turn Three Ranch that these gentlemen have, and did you have occasion to see any change in the condition of the horses over that time period?
A. Yes.
Q. Could you describe the changes that you observed please?
MR. DUNGAN: Your Honor, I guess I’m going to object to foundation if we’re not talking about what time period, what dates. Is she looking from binoculars across the road, walking around on the farm, going in the barn? What are we doing?
THE COURT: Okay. Let’s do a little bit of that with Miss Davis.
MS. LAMP: I will, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Okay.
MS. LAMP: Thank you.
BY MS. LAMP:
Q. Ms. Davis, were you able to see the horses-—let me ask you this. Where did you see the horses from?
A. I guess it would depend.
Q. Okay. Are there multiple places from which you’re able to see the horses and that you have seen horses in the past?
A. Yes.
Q. Where?
A. Well, my front yard for one.
Q. Okay.
A. Another time was there’s a field off to the side of a building out there and I usually see them out there.
Q. Okay. And how far away from the horses are you let’s say when they’re in your front yard. I would assume they’re either there or very close, within a few feet.
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And what about the field?
A. Thirty feet maybe.
Q. Okay.
THE COURT: I’m confused. Are you standing in your front yard looking at the horses, or are they in your front yard?
THE WITNESS: The horses are in my front yard. They got out of the pen.
THE COURT: Okay.
BY MS. LAMP:
Q. And let me ask you this. On how many occasions did you have the horses come into your front yard?
A. I believe twice.
Q.
Twice, okay. And if I understand
correctly from your earlier testimony, that would seem to indicate that they
would actually have to cross
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And on the two occasions that you can recall that the horses were in your yard, approximately how many horses were there each time?
A. Five to six.
Q. Okay. When was the first time that occurred? To the best of your recollection. You can ballpark it.
A. Early, probably about April of ’05.
Q. Okay. And did you get a chance to observe them closely when they were in your yard?
A. Yes.
Q. Where did you observe them from?
A. Next to them.
Q. Okay. And what was their condition at that time?
A. Those part---
MR. DUNGAN: Your Honor, again, excuse me. I don’t think she’s qualified. If she wants to give a general description, I don’t know if she’s got the background for it or not. I don’t know if there’s a foundation for that. I guess I’d like to be sure what her foundation and knowledge is and if she’s giving a lay description or if the court’s taking this as some kind of expert opinion.
MS. LAMP: Your Honor—-
THE COURT: I wouldn’t take it as an expert opinion, but I think a lay person can take a look at a horse and say this is the condition as she observed it.
MR. DUNGAN: Okay.
THE COURT: And then I assume there’s going to be a comparison after. I think something within eyesight of a normal person can see, such as the horse, standing next to the horse and saying this is the condition I observed. Go ahead. Overruled.
MS. LAMP: Thank you, Your Honor.
BY MS. LAMP:
Q. Could you describe the condition you observed the horses in 2005 when they were in your yard?
A. These particular five or six horses were pretty matted, their manes, their tails were very matted with burrs, and their hooves were long. But other than that they looked okay.
Q. Okay. Couldn’t see ribs or bones or anything?
A. Not unusual. I mean, they looked a little undernourished but, but they didn’t look unhealthy.
Q. Okay. And when was the next time that you saw them in your yard? To the best of your recollection.
A. Probably later in the summer, July.
Q. Okay, all right. And--
THE COURT: Same year, 2005?
THE WITNESS: Yes, 2005.
THE COURT: Same horses?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: Same five or six.
THE WITNESS: Yes.
BY MS. LAMP:
Q. And could you describe the condition of the horses then?
A. Pretty much the same. Still pretty matted, their hooves were long.
Q. And why don’t we proceed chronologically and I’ll ask you when the next time you were able to observe the horses was, to the best of your recollection, and we’re talking about a broad span of time.
A. Just before, well, it was mid March was the last time that we ended up calling the police because the horses were out again at that point. We were trying to corral them and get them back into the pen was the last time I had seen them up close.
Q. Mid March of this year?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And this was prior to the impoundment of the animals at the farm?
A. Yes.
Q. Okay. And how many animals did you see?
A. There was four or five that time. It always seemed like the same four or five kind of clustered together. I think they knew how to fend for themselves, and…
Q. Okay. And where did you see them at?
A.
Part were on my side of the street in the front yard. Some were in the middle of the street and
some were still trying to cross
Q. Okay. And how far away were you?
A. Fifteen, twenty feet maybe.
Q. And could you describe the condition of the horses as you observed them in mid March of this year?
A. They, they were skinnier than the last time I had seen them. They were still quite matted and their hooves, of course, had grown (indiscernible)
MR. DUNGAN: I’m sorry, Your Honor, I couldn’t catch that last answer.
(Loud noises in hallway)
THE COURT: Do that again. Something with respect to the hooves you were saying.
THE WITNESS: They were quite thinner at that point compared to the last time I had seen them. They were still very matted and their hooves were quite a bit longer.
BY MS. LAMP:
Q. Longer than they were before?
A. Yes, yes.
Q. Okay, all right. And that was the last time you observed them.
A. Yes.
MS. LAMP: Okay. I don’t have anything further. Thank you, Ms. Davis.
THE
COURT: Mr. Dungan?
CROSS-EXAMINATION(At 3:02 p.m.)
BY MR. DUNGAN:
Q. This most recent time in March of this year, what time of the day or night were the horses in your yard?
A. I can’t say exactly. I believe it was late afternoon.
Q. Do you know if it was a weekend or a weekday?
A. It was a weekday.
Q. Had you gone to work that day?
A. Yes. And I had come home from work that day, yes.
Q. And took time for you to be home from work--
A. It was five fifteen.
Q. All right. And then how long after you came home from work did these horses come over?
A. Half hour.
Q. All right. So we’re getting to about five forty-five?
A. Mm-Hmm.
Q. You have to--
A. Yes.
Q. I don’t mean to pick on you, but we’re recording this.
A. Yes.
THE COURT: I’ll pick on you. Make sure you say yes or no.
THE WITNESS: Okay.
BY MR. DUNGAN:
Q. If I don’t bark at you, he will.
A. Okay.
THE COURT: I don’t bark.
BY MR. DUNGAN:
Q. Dark or light out?
A. It was light.
Q. Had it hit dusk yet?
A. No.
Q. How long were the horses in your yard for?
A. Maybe forty-five minutes. Someone driving by happened to stop. My husband and myself corralled them back and put them back in the pen.
Q. You knew the horses were in your yard for forty-five minutes?
A. No. It took us that long to get them, because once you could get one, the rest of them would usually follow, but it was getting that one that would lead them.
Q. Okay. So you wanted them off your yard as soon as you saw them in your yard.
A. I didn’t want any injured by the traffic coming by, yes.
Q. You wanted to get them back where they belonged.
A. Yes.
Q. All right. And that turned out to be a forty-five minute process.
A. Yes.
Q. All right. At any time did you call 911 about this?
A. Right away.
Q. Okay. And apparently in that forty-five minutes that you were trying to get them back on the property across the street, no one showed up yet?
A. No, they hadn’t.
Q. All right.
A. As soon as we got them back in it seemed like the officer had shown up just then.
Q. Convenient for him I would say. All right. And then the time before that was summer, July of 2005?
A. Yes.
Q. And the time before that was April of ’05.
A. Yes.
Q. Other than that, no other problems.
A. Those were the times that they were in my yard.
Q. Okay, all right.
A. We called the police several times throughout the last two and a half years because horses were out.
Q. Just horses that you saw out but didn’t come on to your property in particular.
A. Right, right.
MR. DUNGAN: All right, thank you. I don’t have any other questions, Your Honor.
MR. HURST: No questions, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Miss Lamp?
MS. LAMP: I don’t have any further questions.
THE COURT: Miss Davis, the, were the horses in danger on your lawn?
THE WITNESS: No.
THE COURT: What was the dangerous aspect of it mid March?
THE WITNESS: Crossing the road and the traffic.
THE COURT: Was there traffic at that time?
THE WITNESS: (No audible response)
THE COURT: Is there usually traffic that time of day?
THE
WITNESS: In ’05 they did construction on
THE
COURT: You, in the early April of 2005,
would it be fair to say you hadn’t lived at this
THE WITNESS: No, right.
THE COURT: And they’re in your front yard.
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: Do you know how they get there?
THE WITNESS: There was a part of the fence that was broken down.
THE COURT: Did you ever see that repaired?
THE WITNESS: No. The last time they got out my husband put a yellow caution tape up there, thinking that the bright color would at least keep them back and it seemed to have worked. It still hadn’t been repaired.
THE COURT: In summer of 2005, do you know how they got to your front yard?
THE WITNESS: The same way.
THE COURT: There had been obviously no repairs between April and the summer?
THE WITNESS: Correct.
THE COURT: Did your husband put the tape up that time?
THE WITNESS: He didn’t see the tape. The first time he tried to pull the fence, because the fence was actually laying on the ground so he tried to pull the fence up and, and connect it to a pole that was there, which, which worked for a little while.
THE COURT: As you would drive by the, your property, well, as you’re standing in your front yard, is that fence right across the street from yours or is it to the left or right?
THE WITNESS: No, it’s right across the street.
THE COURT: Right across the street.
THE WITNESS: Mm-Hmm.
THE COURT: As you saw persons go into the farm as you described for us earlier, would the persons drive by that fence area?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: That’s right across the street?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: Was there any obstructions to seeing that fence in the condition you’ve described?
THE WITNESS: No.
THE COURT: Was it in that condition when you moved into your residence?
THE WITNESS: I don’t think it was down completely. It might have been a little dilapidated, but it wasn’t completely down. It was enough to hold them back.
THE COURT: What length of fence would you say was in this condition where horses could come and go as they wished?
THE WITNESS: Maybe eight feet.
THE COURT: They could go through?
THE WITNESS: Mm-Hmm.
THE COURT: From what you observed as a citizen there, or residents in that area, is it fair to say this is a dangerous situation for the horses?
THE WITNESS: Yes, yes, absolutely.
THE COURT: A dangerous situation for the automobile drivers?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: For any vehicle operator.
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: And for you as well personally.
THE WITNESS: Yes. Not knowing the temperament of the horses, yes.
THE COURT: It sounds like they got to know you pretty good.
THE WITNESS: I think they enjoyed coming over eating grass.
THE COURT: There you go. Why do you say that? You say they enjoyed coming over eating grass.
THE WITNESS: There wasn’t, it’s a lot of acreage over there and it wasn’t, and I’m assuming that just because it was trodden a lot by the horses, that there wasn’t a lot of greenery, you know, they had, and they don’t always eat trees and things like that. When they came over into our yard, first thing, that’s what they did, they ate.
MR. DUNGAN: Your Honor, I guess before we have her describe the farm and what is or isn’t on the farm, could we at least establish if she’s been on it?
THE COURT: Could you see it from your house?
THE WITNESS: The farm?
THE COURT: Yeah, with this area you’re talking about that was trodden down.
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: Okay.
THE WITNESS: Yes.
MR. DUNGAN: Can you see the entire farm?
THE WITNESS: We don’t see the back part of the farm but we can see the front part and into where the, the pole barn is, and because we, we led the horses back into the property back to almost the building, we saw that much of the farm.
THE COURT: What’s that distance? From the street to the building.
THE WITNESS: Oh, twenty-five feet. Thirty feet maybe. I’m not positive on the distance.
MR. DUNGAN: And the date that you would have actually gone on the farm is the March, ’07?
THE WITNESS: No.
MR. DUNGAN: Which time is that?
THE WITNESS: It would have been July of ’05.
MR. DUNGAN: Okay.
THE COURT: Summer.
THE WITNESS: Mm-Hmm.
THE COURT: What did you do in April of 2005 as far as getting them back in?
THE WITNESS: Just kind of, once we got them across the street and into the gate, just kind of shooed them back a little farther and then went to help mend the fence.
THE
COURT: You did?
THE WITNESS: My husband and I did, yes. That’s the time we actually put up the
caution tape. We tried to pull the fence
up and make it stable and could not do it, it kept falling back down, so we put
the yellow caution tape up.
THE COURT: And this was which time?
THE WITNESS: This would have been in March, the ’07 one.
THE COURT: This year.
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: The condition of, you said in early April of 2005, did the horses come over to eat the grass?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: Was the condition across the street as you described it at that time?
THE WITNESS: Yes. With the fence being down, yes.
THE COURT: The grass too over there or any greenery over there?
THE WITNESS: Things were just starting to green then.
THE
COURT: Did you find any hay or did you
see any hay or anything over there?
THE WITNESS: Not at that point, no.
THE COURT: As you walked—-is this the time you walked the horses back or is this the time where you just shooed them in once you got across the street?
THE WITNESS: ’07 is when we kind of just shooed them in.
THE COURT: Oh, what about 2005, early April, 2005?
THE WITNESS: April of ’05. We just, we just got them through the gate.
THE COURT: Okay. Summer of 2005, I guess you said July I guess it is.
THE WITNESS: Yes, is when we actually—-
THE COURT: Walked them to the barn?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: The barn. A building area.
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: How many horses did you own?
THE WITNESS: Three.
THE COURT: Did they eat grass?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: Is there a different manner in which horses eat grass?
THE WITNESS: No.
THE COURT: They all eat at the same speed, no matter what?
THE WITNESS: Um…
THE COURT: What I’m interested in knowing is when the horses would come over to your property and eat your grass, were they about their business pretty quick or did they just say, well, you know, nothing else to do, so I guess I’ll eat some grass.
THE WITNESS: No. This one particular day they were there all day. They--
THE COURT: In your yard?
THE WITNESS: Yes. My husband was outside working in the flower bed and he just happened to hear one of them behind him. He didn’t even know they had crossed the street. And he called me at work to say that they were in the yard with him. And they were still there when I got home. So they had been there, oh, early afternoon I think it was.
THE COURT: Were you there at a time when they came over, when they first came over, or is--
THE WITNESS: Not that particular time.
THE COURT: Okay. Which one was that?
THE WITNESS: That was the July one that I wasn’t there when they first came over. He called me when they, when they came over.
THE COURT: You were there on the April of 2005 one?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: Did they eat grass then?
THE WITNESS: What they could, yes.
THE COURT: What do you mean?
THE WITNESS: Well, because there wasn’t a lot of greenery then.
THE COURT: Oh.
THE WITNESS: You know, it was coming out of winter, so…
THE COURT: Seem hungry?
THE WITNESS: I don’t know if you’d call it seemed hungry. I mean, they were pretty, seemed pretty content on doing what they were doing, you know--
THE COURT: Which was eating the grass?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: I guess in March of this year they didn’t really get into your yard, they were on the road. Is that right?
THE WITNESS: A couple of them were at the edge of the property out near the road.
THE COURT: Okay. Did you try and make contact with anybody at the farm to tell them about this fence?
THE WITNESS: I personally did not, no.
THE COURT: Do you know if anybody did or you directed or asked anybody to do that?
THE WITNESS: I’m not sure if my husband did or not, no.
THE COURT: Did you ever talk to any police officer about it?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE COURT: Was that this year or was that on previous times?
THE WITNESS: I believe it was this time.
THE COURT: Okay.
THE WITNESS: When he put the caution tape up he told the officer that the fence was down and he put the tape up.
THE
COURT: Were there any other areas of the
fence along this road,
THE
WITNESS: At one point when they were
working on
THE COURT: Who fixed it?
THE WITNESS: I believe the county did. They were the ones working on the road so I think they did it.
THE COURT: But the one across the street from you remained unrepaired?
THE WITNESS: Yes.
THE
COURT: Did you ever see someone, either
or the gentlemen you described for us before, working on any of the fences?
THE WITNESS: No, I did not.
THE COURT: Did you see anybody else working on that fence area?
THE WITNESS: No.
THE COURT: Miss Lamp, anything further?
MS. LAMP: No, thank you, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Dungan?
MR. DUNGAN: Yes, Your Honor.
FURTHER CROSS-EXAMINATION(At 3:15 p.m.)
BY MR. DUNGAN:
Q. Ms. Davis, the fence that you were talking about is the one that runs on the very edge of the property of the farm. Correct?
A. I believe so, yes.
Q.
Really close to
A. Fairly close, yes.
Q. Okay. How many feet, give me an estimate if you would please.
A. Six feet.
Q. All right. It’s the outer fence of the entire property. Correct?
A. It’s the only fence I’ve seen.
Q. Okay. Do you have any knowledge one way or the other if the horses are contained within other inner fences on that farm?
A. I don’t believe that they were.
Q. I don’t want to know what you believe and I’m not trying to be offensive about that, but do you know or do you not know?
A. If there were other fences?
Q. Yes.
A. I can’t say positively, no.
MR. DUNGAN: Okay, thank you. I don’t have any other questions then, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Mr. Hurst?
MR. HURST: No, Your Honor.
THE COURT: Okay. Thank you, Miss Davis. You may step down.
(At 3:16 p.m. witness excused)
MS. LAMP: We’d ask again that she be excused.
THE COURT: You hang around much longer, you’ll be back.
MS. LAMP: Maybe. Thank you.
THE COURT: Thanks, Miss Davis.