Thibodaux, La. -
The trial of a Lafourche Parish man accused of animal
cruelty and animal noise code violations started Thursday afternoon. But after three and a half hours of testimony
in the case against Chris Michot, the court continued the trial to April 16.
It's a case the FOX 8 Defenders has followed for months.
Thursday, the prosecution called four witnesses to the stand
to testify, including Michot's next-door neighbors, Vivian and Joey Sanchez and
two Lafourche Parish Sheriff's Office patrol sergeants.
Mrs. Sanchez testified that, when she first moved to the Thibodaux property,
Michot told her he had about 100 dogs. Mr.
Sanchez says the barking is non-stop, sometimes for hours, and it wakes them up
in the middle of the night.
Prosecutors played a 35-minute video the neighbors shot, and
most of it revealed non-stop barking. There
were only a few moments of quiet time during the whole tape.
The defense argued that someone must have been provoking the dogs.
Humane Society Chief Field Investigator Beau Gast said, "Our field
investigators go out, document what we see and take that to the Sheriff's Office.
We take no other actions other than that. We would never intentionally, you know, cause
something to happen."
Several of Chris Michot's neighbors showed up in court to listen and watch. They say they've lived with the complaints
the Sanchez's have made for years.
"It's an everyday life for everyone back there in the Little Choupic community,"
said neighbor Buddy Gauthier. "There's no barriers or anything from our
side, but we can definitely see the animals tied up and the conditions and we
can also... The smells tell us that there's a lot going on over there."
Testimony focused mainly on the animal noise code
violations. The animal cruelty charges will likely come up when trial
resumes next month.
Several other
Lafourche Parish deputies will testify then, along with a representative with
the Humane Society Lafourche Chapter. Mr. Michot's defense attorney,
David Ardoin, mentioned he also subpoenaed Lafourche Parish Sheriff Craig Webre
to testify.
Chris Michot (File)
