Posted by BIG'UN on 2/25/2009, 8:36 pm, in reply to "http://video.aol.com/video-detail/arizona-dog-fighting-bust-ties-to-arkansas/1185026094"
68.231.10.50
If your going to post this, fine, but post the story where the Patricks were acquitted and found innocent on all charges.. here, I'll do it for ya 
November 20, 2008, 3:33 p.m.
A.J. FLICK
Tucson Citizen
A judge acquitted an Avra Valley couple accused of breeding pitbulls for illegal dogfighting, saying the prosecutor hadn't proved his case.
Judge John S. Leonardo delivered his verdict after a six-day trial in Pima County Superior Court, dismissing charges against Mahlon Thatcher Patrick and Emily Elizabeth Dennis, both 64. They had been charged with two counts of dogfighting and 21 counts of animal cruelty.
After the verdicts, Patrick consoled a sobbing Dennis. Both left court without comment.
Deputy County Attorney Lewis Brandes also left court without comment.
Defense attorney Thomas Higgins, Dennis' attorney, accused the Humane Society of the United States of storming into town and accusing the couple of illegal activity in the wake of the highly publicized dogfighting case of NFL's Michael Vick.
"They've been there 30 years" without incident, Higgins said of Dennis and Patrick. "There's nothing there."
Leonardo said evidence showed that Patrick not only was involved in dogfighting before it became illegal, but also continued to breed dogs because he loved the breed.
Evidence, Leonardo said, indicated Patrick and Dennis wouldn't sell animals for dogfighting.
In addition to arresting Patrick's and Dennis' arrests, deputies apprehended Robert Clayton Smith, 56; Terry Lee Williams, 53; Juan Rudolfo Verdin, 40; and Zenaida Yvonne Verdin, 40.
Juan Verdin recently pleaded guilty to attempted dogfighting; his wife, Zenaida, pleaded guilty to cruelty to animals. Leonardo is set to sentence them Wednesday.
In February, Smith and Williams are scheduled for a jury trial before Judge Michael J. Cruikshank.
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