A Caroline County man has been convicted of seven counts of animal cruelty to horses.
Michael A. Wilkerson Sr., 47, faces up to seven years in jail on the misdemeanor charges.
He was charged with an eighth count, but it was dismissed yesterday.
Wilkerson will be sentenced Feb. 9.
The case began in January 2008 when Animal Control officers said they warned Wilkerson that he needed to do a better job of feeding and caring for nine of his horses. They returned about two weeks later and seized five of the horses because they didn't see any improvement, but four of the horses were missing.
Wilkerson was convicted in February 2008 of four counts of cruelty to the seized horses. He was not convicted of cruelty against the fifth horse because he did not own the horse for more than six months.
He appealed that decision and, after several postponements, Commonwealth's Attorney Tony Spencer added more charges of animal cruelty after the four missing horses were discovered, in the same condition, with a friend of Wilkerson's in Lunenburg County.
Seventeen witnesses testified during Monday's trial, including two veterinarians who said the horses were suffering from malnutrition, parasites and lack of dental care.
Dana Miller, a former veterinarian with the state who conducted a necropsy on one of the horses found dead in Lunenburg, told the judge that the horse was emaciated, with no body fat, a loss of muscle mass and visible protruding bones. She said a horse's bone was analyzed for its bone-marrow fat content.
"The bone-marrow fat content in horses is usually 60 [percent] to 90 percent," Miller said. "This horse's bone-marrow content was 1.9 percent."
Several defense witnesses testified, and defense attorney John LaFratta argued that Wilkerson rescued those horses and they were in that condition when he got them, and that he was trying to rehabilitate them.
But Spencer argued that Wilkerson had 10 months and that should have been plenty of time to get the horses in better shape than they were.
Judge Horace A. Revercomb III handed down a guilty verdict at 9:30 p.m. after 101/2 hours of testimony.
"I think when you go out of your way to help horses, you shouldn't be persecuted for doing so," Wilkerson said after court.
Spencer said he hopes this case sends a message about animal cruelty in Caroline County.
"We are shepherds of all God's creation and should be judged most strictly by how we treat those who depend on us," Spencer said. "This commonwealth's attorney's office takes animal cruelty cases very seriously and will continue to prosecute them vigorously."
Portsia Smith: 540/374-5419
Email: psmith@fredericksburg.com