Local landowner Ray Christie was arraigned at the county courthouse today on six misdemeanor charges stemming from last month’s raid on his McKinleyville farm, where animal control officers found heaps of evidence suggesting a massive gamecock breeding operation.
Christie, who looks like this —
— appeared in street clothes (blue flannel shirt, Carhartt jeans, workboots) along with his lawyer. They entered not-guilty pleas, and a pre-trial date was set for Feb. 24 at 2 p.m. Christie, looking relaxed, promptly left the courtroom after the trial date was set.
No one reached at the DA’s office Friday afternoon could say why Christie’s being charged with just six misdemeanors despite the nearly 1,400 roosters, 72 knives and 13 pairs of gaffs (or spurs) seized from his property last month, according to the T-S .
This article appears in Spending Headwaters.
Keep an eye on this one, it oughtta be interesting.
it’s a bull shit case/when the facts come out you’ll find the county was dupped by a livestock deputy out of his mind with envy about Christie and who lied in his complaint. The fact that they can only drum up these light weight charges shows what a farce this case is. When the time and money blown by this lame brain excuse for a deputy is disclosed,it will blow your mind.
Well, if Christie wasn’t running a cock fighting ring, who was?
My mistake. They’re accusing him of breeding fighting cocks, not running a cock fighting ring.
They were trying to bust his huge drug ring and used his cock fighting ring as the excuse for a search. Only two problems,no drug ring& no cock fighting ring. The only one dumber than the gags is deputy Fulton.