Prosecution credibility questioned

SUNBURY - The credibility of the woman who filed cruelty to animal charges against an Irish Valley dairy farmer and his son came under attack during Thursday's five-hour preliminary hearing.

Defense attorney Roger Wiest II of Sunbury repeatedly claimed Jeannette K. Aderhold, of Snydertown Road, Danville RD 6, a former worker at the farm who filed the private criminal complaint against Lloyd Reitz Sr., owner of Reitz Dairy Farm in Irish Valley, and his son, Andy Reitz, lied during her two-hour testimony and violated a wire-tapping law by videotaping injured cows and calves and unsanitary conditions at the farm without permission from the Reitz family.

Wiest also pointed out that the prosecution's chief witness was convicted of a felony offense for robbing a bank in Perry County 31 years ago that resulted in a sentence of 1 1/2 to 3 years, and never informed the Reitzes that she was a convicted felon. He also said Aderhold has used an alias over the years.

The defense lawyer said Aderhold quit working at the dairy farm on Sept. 10, 2009, but claimed in an unemployment compensation application that she was terminated from her position.

Wiest made several motions during the legal proceeding to have all the charges dismissed against his clients due to lack of evidence and failure by the prosecution to officially identify Lloyd and Andy Reitz as the defendants in the case. But Magisterial District Judge Robert Bolton rejected the motions and allowed the hearing to continue.

Special prosecutor Steve Winning of Philadelphia said numerous graphic videos and photographs displayed at the hearing clearly revealed negligence and animal abuse at the farm, and claimed no attempts were made by the Reitzes to improve unsanitary conditions at the farm after Aderhold brought them to their attention.

Following closing arguments by both attorneys, Bolton said he had to review the testimony before rendering a verdict within two days.

Lloyd Reitz is charged with 14 counts of animal cruelty relating to not treating a cow with a massive abscess on her left hind leg, leaving sick animals outside with no shelter, having them lie in manure until they were put down and other alleged mistreatment. He also failed to provide medical care for animals that were injured or sick, Aderhold's complaint alleges.

Andy Reitz is charged with seven counts of similar cruelty.

If found guilty of the summary offenses, the Reitzes could be fined between $50 and $750, and face up to 90 days in prison.

The complaint cites 16 incidents involving 11 cows on the farm, which has approximately 300 cows. The offenses filed against Lloyd and Andy Reitz allegedly occurred between December 2008 and Sept. 6, 2009.

Aderhold, who worked at the dairy farm for about a year, has received strong support from the powerful animal-rights group known as PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals). Aderhold, who has veterinarian assistance experience, turned over photographs and video footage from the farm to PETA that shows a collapsed cow struggling to get up as other cows step around it, cows with untreated wounds, ill cows lying in urine and manure and ill cows being repeatedly shocked with electric prods.

Winning, who was requested by PETA to prosecute the case, was assisted by Daphna Nachminovitch, vice president for cruelty investigations for PETA.

After the testimony was complete, Nachminovitch stated, "I look forward to hearing the judge's decision and seeing justice done for the cruelty that was done to the cows and calves that we showed to the court on video and photographs."

Wiest and Winning reserved comment until a ruling is rendered.

Aderhold was the first of four witnesses to take the stand.

She admitted to taking the photographs and video footage that was shown to the court with her own digital camera and other video equipment provided by PETA. The witness initially claimed the Reitz family wasn't aware of the videos, but later claimed they knew some was taken.

The video footage, some of which contained audio of Aderhold talking to various cows and calves, depicted cows lying in urine and manure on concrete. She said some of the cows were sweaty and experienced an assortment of health problems including abnormal breathing, "bottle jaw" (swelling under the jaw), bleeding teeth, utter infections, detached hoofs, milk fever and lacerations.

She identified Andy Reitz as the person on the video shown kicking a downed cow and rubbing a pocket knife against its spine in an attempt to get the animal to stand up.

She said some of the cows died, with one being shot.

Aderhold, who has worked on dairy farms for many years, said she purchased two sick calves known as "Lucky" and "Unlucky" from Lloyd Reitz because she didn't think they would survive on the dairy farm. The witness said she used her own resources to help care for some of the unhealthy cows on the farm.

Aderhold said her job at the farm included milking cows, cleaning them and their stalls and medicating them. The witness said she only worked at the farm about four hours per day.

Following Aderhold's testimony, Winning called to the stand Dr. Holly Cheever, a private veterinarian practitioner from an animal hospital in Guilderland, N.Y.

Wiest objected to having Cheever serve as an expert witness because she is not licensed in the state Pennsylvania and can't render a legal opinion as to the condition of the animals on the Reitz farm since she never visited the dairy farm. But Bolton overruled the objection and allowed the veterinarian to testify.

In her opinion, Cheever said the video footage presented at the hearing constituted animal cruelty and neglect and claims the cows should have been given antibiotics to treat their medical conditions.

She said the Reitzes failed to provide proper care to the animals and allowed unsanitary conditions to exist. She also said there was no bedding provided to some of the cows.

Under cross examination, Cheever admitted that she couldn't tell if the cows and calves were given food or water before or after the video footage was taken.

Wiest, who accused PETA of being an "extremist group" for the protection of animals, asked Cheever if she agreed with his description of PETA. Cheever replied, "No I don't. Cruelty is cruelty. They (PETA) are doing justifiable anti-cruelty work."

Before presenting his own witnesses, Wiest again asked Bolton to issue a "not guilty verdict" because he claimed the Commonwealth failed to meet the statute for the cruelty to animals charge. He said the statute the Reitzes were charged with doesn't apply to normal agricultural operations like dairy farms.

Winning argued that the Commonwealth had showed its burden of proof through Aderhold's testimony and the video footage. The prosecutor said he identified the defendants in his opening statement.

Bolton then allowed the case to proceed.

Dr. James Temple, a veterinarian for 37 years who works at Sunbury Animal Hospital, served as an expert witness for the defense.

Temple testified that he has inspected and treated cows at the Reitz farm for 37 years. He said he visits the farm at least twice a month and is very familiar with the herd.

Temple said the video presented in court Thursday revealed no animal cruelty. He admitted some of the video was tough to view, but that it was normal for cows to die, lie in manure and get muddy.

He also refuted Cheever's claim that a medical opinion about the cows and calves could be rendered just by looking at the video. "Absolutely not," stated Temple, when asked by Wiest if it was possible for someone to know the medical conditions of the cows without visiting the farm.

In September 2009, Temple said an evaluation by Penn State University agricultural officials revealed 93 percent of the cows and calves at the Reitz farm were not lame and that 80 percent of the livestock had acceptable body conditions. He noted both percentages were well above the state average for dairy farms.

Temple described the Reitz farm as being a "typical" farm and reiterated that he never witnessed any wanton cruelty or negligence at the farm, which he said is adequately cleaned twice a day.

Lloyd Reitz Sr., who operates the third-generation farm at 133 Reitz Road in Shamokin Township, was the last witness.

The 54-year-old farmer, who has owned the farm since 1976, denied ever kicking or stabbing a cow or calf or allowing his livestock to lie in manure.

He told the court that Aderhold never informed him that she was a convicted felon and that her unemployment compensation was denied because she lied about being terminated from her position on the farm. "She quit. She wasn't fired," Reitz said.

He said his livestock has access to the open grazing facility about 20 hours per day and that all sick animals receive proper medical care.

Reitz said nobody in his family knew Aderhold was videotaping sick cows and calves at the farm.

Reitz said his farm offers above standard care and that the Humane Society, Department of Environmental Protection and Penn State Agricultural Department inspected the farm several times, but found no violations.

The dairy farm operator said every farm has downed cows. He said various methods including kicking and prodding their spines with a closed pocket knife are used to get the cows to stand up.

He said the videos shown in court contain some "gross stuff," but don't adequately depict his farm operation.

He said Aderhold never brought her concerns about unhealthy cows to his attention. He even claimed Aderhold helped cause the death of a cow.

Reitz said Aderhold either lost or discarded a medical log book for the farm animals and told "lots of stories."

In his summation, Wiest admitted that the video was gross to look at, but wasn't offensive or cruel or proof his clients were negligent. "There was no wanton intent to hurt any animals," he said. "Farming is a hard, dirty business. I believe you've made a mountain out of a molehill with this case."