Bona Requests Mistrial

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Created on Monday, 01 December 2014 19:43

Written by Kendra Carter

ST. JOHNSBURY- Bruce Bona is asking the state for a mistrial to be declared in his animal cruelty case. Bona was recently found guilty on 17 of 21 counts of animal cruelty against horses from his ranch.

On November 20, 2014 Bona was charged with animal neglect for failure to provide his horses with adequate food and water.

 According Bona, who represented himself during the trial, jurors were not given adequate time to reflect on their decision after being presented with closing arguments, and that there were obvious issues with the way the verdict was presented.

In February of 2014, police had received a tip about a possible dead horse found at the Bona Ranch in Lyndonville. Upon further investigation, there ended up being three deceased horses along with numerous other horses looking unhealthy. According to the prosecutor, State's Attorney Lisa Warren, these horses not given adequate food or water and you could "see their ribs, their hind-quarters were sticking out and there were burdocks found in some of the horses' tails."

Deputy Adam Bergeron, an Animal Cruelty Investigator, continued to go back to the ranch and with Bona's [verbal] permission, check out the property. Upon further investigation, all of Bona's horses were seized and found new homes.

Bona had been in-and-out of court since September of this year and his two-day trial started on November 19th in Caledonia County Courty. A jury of 12 people people unanimously decided the ranchowner was guilty on 17 of the 21 charges. Judge Robert Bent ruled Bona guilty on November 20th. Bona then filed his motion for a mistrial on Tuesday, November 25.

If the verdict stands, Bona faces up to a year in prison and could face charges of $17,000, which equates to $1,000 per charge.