(Published Friday, February 16, 2007 11:09:27 AM CST)
A d v e r t i s e m e n t
By Mike DuPre' Gazette staff
A sobbing Michelle Talley told Judge James Daley on Thursday:
"My pathway to this court was paved with good intentions. … When I got wind of these puppy mills, I went and I bought them, these puppies, these litters. …
"I'd go, and I couldn't just say I'd buy this one or that one, so I'd buy all 15. My intentions were well."
Talley wound up with 44 Siberian huskies in what Rock County sheriff's deputies described as deplorable conditions at her home on South Afton Road in Janesville.
Deputies described a house and garage where floors were caked with feces and the stench of feces and urine was overwhelming. Deputies said they found no food and little water for the animals, according to the criminal complaint against Talley.
Michelle Talley
Jerry Talley
Talley maintained she wasn't running a puppy mill but was rescuing huskies from puppy mills at a cost of more than $12,000 just to buy the dogs, let alone feed them, which she said she dutifully did.
She and her ex-husband, Jerry Fred Talley Jr., were sentenced Thursday after each pleaded guilty to three misdemeanors: party to the crimes of failure to provide proper shelter for animals, failure to provide proper food and drink to animals and obstructing.
Michelle was sentenced to two years probation with an order requiring psychological treatment.
Jerry was fined $1,500-$500 on each misdemeanor count-and ordered to pay court costs for a total penalty of $1,728.
Both were banned from owning or training any animals for five years.
Each could have been sentenced to 27 months in jail and fined $30,000, the combined maximum penalties for the three misdemeanors.
The only charge dropped in a plea agreement was the least brought against each of them: failure to provide proper sanitation. That is a civil offense and carries only a fine as a penalty.
The only sentence recommendation the prosecution and defense agreed upon was the five-year ban on owning or training animals.
Assistant district attorney Scott Dirks argued for probation for both Talleys.
Attorney Marc McCrory, who defended only Michelle Talley, argued for only a fine for his client. Jerry Talley represented himself.
"A fine is highly unlikely to keep this kind of thing from happening again," Dirks said. "Common sense should tell us that anyone who collects animals to the extent these people did has something psychologically wrong with them."
Research shows that people who have the psychological condition to hoard animals are likely to repeat the behavior, and only the continual checking of probation could ensure the Talleys don't return to animal-hoarding. Dirks said.
McCrory countered that the "no-ownership" ban should stop Michelle from hoarding animals, but Daley asked how that could be enforced outside Wisconsin. Both Talleys expressed a desire to relocate, and Daley noted probation or court orders for misdemeanor convictions don't transfer state to state.
Jerry Talley told the judge that he came to help his ex-wife after she and her mother became seriously ill. When he arrived, Michelle already had 44 huskies, he said.
He told deputies that conditions in the house were so bad that he slept outside in a tent if the weather was good, according to the criminal complaint.
Talley also told Daley that his job as a traveling millwright requires working out of Wisconsin.
In imposing the different sentences, Daley said:
"It appears all the dogs were in place when Mr. Talley came to help his ex-wife and mother-in-law. I think the psychological condition is in place for Mrs. Talley but not for Mr. Talley.
"Mrs. Talley was responsible for creating the situation."
