Animal cruelty defense
wants trial

The Kahaluu man's lawyer claims
charges are simply "overkill"

A Kahaluu man is innocent of multiple charges of animal cruelty stemming from the seizure of 64 dogs from his property in late January, attorney William Harrison said yesterday.

"We absolutely deny animal cruelty in this case and we're willing to prove it before a jury," said Harrison, attorney for James Montgomery.

Harrison appeared before Kaneohe District Judge Phillip Doi on behalf of Montgomery, a teacher at Kaiser High School, and requested a jury trial on 55 charges of animal cruelty.

The animals, who were regarded as part of the family, were well-taken care of by Montgomery and his wife, Harrison said after the hearing. "He is a Christian man who loves animals and in fact has raised animals all his life."

He criticized the number of charges filed against his client, calling them "overkill."

"It's basically trying to kill a bird with an elephant gun; there was no basis at all for these charges and yet they're drumming them up to the extent where they're making the man look really, really bad," he said.

Linda Haller, director of shelter operations at the Hawaiian Humane Society, said after the hearing that the citations were based on what was observed at the Montgomery property, not based on prior investigations involving the Montgomerys.

Vector branch inspectors had visited the Montgomery property seven times since December 2002 after receiving complaints of strong odors coming from the property.

Harrison said farms will always be associated with odors, but there was no danger to the neighbors or anyone else.

"Animals have feces and there's going to be a smell until you clean it up. And if you're at work during the day and you come home, you clean up the feces and everything's OK. Basically that's what's happening in this case," he said.

Humane Society investigators seized the dogs, some of which were pregnant, on Jan. 29 and have yet to return them to the Montgomerys or allow them visits, Harrison said.

After the dogs were removed, three of the Montgomerys' children were also taken from the home and placed in emergency foster care pending an investigation by state Child Welfare Services.

Harrison declined to discuss what has happened to the children because it's a Family Court matter but said that the children were not in any danger.