Animal Abuse Defense Dons Biblical Robe Couple’s Summation Turns To Scripture To Argue Man Has Dominion Over Beasts

Defense attorneys on Thursday quoted everything from romantic poetry to the Bible in closing arguments designed to convince a judge that Jeanette and Swen Bergman aren’t guilty of animal cruelty.

The Bergmans each are accused of 21 misdemeanor counts of second-degree animal cruelty in connection with 240 dogs authorities found when they raided the couple’s Mountain Top Kennel near Newport on Jan. 4.

In addition, Jeanette Bergman faces six counts of illegally removing more than half of a dog’s ear.

Their nine-day, non-jury trial in Pend Oreille County District Court ground to a halt Thursday with about 3 hours of lawyers’ summations. Judge Chuck Baechler promised a decision at 1 p.m. today. Deputy Prosecutor Tony Koures took about 35 minutes to tick off grisly medical problems he said many of the dogs suffered because of neglect.

Among the examples he cited were intestines hanging out because of untreated parasites, and turned-under eyelids that rubbed off the surface of eyeballs and caused blindness in one dog. He also described pus oozing from female dogs’ sex organs and from ears that became infected after they were loped off without anesthesia.

There were also nerves exposed by broken teeth, a partially healed fractured jaw with the bone still sticking through the skin, a neck laceration from a too-small collar, toes lost to frostbite and mite infections that cause dogs to lose their hair and scratch off their skin.

Years of experience in the dog breeding business meant the Bergmans should have recognized the problems. And the $20,000 found in their house meant they could afford veterinary care, Koures said.

In his closing argument, Charles Dorn, one of two attorneys representing Swen Bergman, offered several snippets of poetry and his interpretation of the symbolism. At one point, he even cited the Federalist Papers.

“It’s not poetry, but it probably should be,” Dorn said.

Not to be outdone, Jeanette Bergman’s attorney, Dennis Scott, quoted Psalms 8 as evidence that - contrary to the view of animal-rights activists - man has dominion over animals.

Scott also quoted George Orwell’s “Animal Farm” to deflate one of Koures’ points and attack the animal rights zealotry he said has unfairly villified the Bergmans across the nation.

Echoing Dorn, Scott argued state law confers no special protection on dogs and other “companion animals” as Koures suggested. Scott likened the idea to a statement by the pigs in “Animal Farm” that “some animals are more equal than others.”

Scott aimed a line of poetry from “Animal Farm” at what he considers the misguided philosophy of animal advocates involved in the case:

“Soon or late the day is coming,

Tyrant Man shall be o’erthrown,

And the fruitful fields of England

Shall be trod by beasts alone.”

Scott and Dorn repeatedly attacked the testimony of prosecution witnesses as highly exaggerated if not false. They also blasted authorities for killing 35 dogs said to be too ill or vicious to impound.

Many of the dogs could have been treated, and authorities could have asked the Bergmans to help round up uncooperative dogs, the defense attorneys said.

They suggested some of the public outrage against the Bergmans should be directed toward the public officials and volunteers who put down the dogs.

, DataTimes