Three plead to misdemeanors in Nevada wild-horse shootings

Three plead to misdemeanors in Nevada wild-horse shootings

Jan. 10, 2001

DEFENDANTSCHARGED in the slaughter of dozens of wild horses listen to proceedings in court Monday. From left are Scott Brendle; Anthony Merlino; and Darien Brock.

By Brendan Riley
Associated Press Writer

CARSON CITY, Nev. — Two men charged in the slaughter of dozens of wild horses in the hills east of Reno pleaded no contest Monday to single gross misdemeanor counts, and a third defendant pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor.

Sentencing was set for Feb. 11 in the Christmastime 1998 case that prompted international outrage and led to less-than-honorable military discharges for two of the three former Reno high school buddies.

Scott Brendle, 24, and Darien Brock, 23, pleaded no contest to gross misdemeanor counts of killing or maiming an animal. Those pleas will be treated as guilty pleas. The two former Marine lance corporals could face up to one year in jail and fines up to $2,000.

Anthony Merlino, 23, a Reno construction worker who admitted he shot one injured horse to put it out of its misery, pleaded guilty to a misdemeanor count of disturbing the peace. He faces up to six months in jail and a fine of up to $1,000.

District Judge Mike Griffin said he had received thousands of letters from individuals and organizations urging him to impose harsh sentences.

"They want me to put these people in prison for life on something the DA has no evidence on," Griffin said.

Carcasses of 33 horses were found in the area. But the three defendants said most of the horses already had been slaughtered when they came upon them. Their lawyers noted bullets and shell casings at the scene could have come from nearly 20 different types of guns.

Those seeking harsh penalties included the Humane Society of the United States, which said the negotiated pleas were unwarranted "given the extraordinary depravity of this case."

The Humane Society’s Ariana Huemer, in a letter sent Friday to Griffin, said the Nevada Supreme Court recently had ruled there was enough evidence to charge the men for killing several horses.

But the judge’s view of the evidence wasn’t challenged by Deputy District Attorney Sharon Claassen. "There simply was no affirmative evidence," she said in court.

"Everyone has this all wrong," said Merlino’s lawyer Scott Freeman. "They got the wrong guys."

Brendle’s lawyer John Ohlson said his client tried to enter a similar plea three years ago, adding, "Scott was put through the wringer in the case — to get to the same point where we started out."

"From day one, they admitted to one horse," added Brock’s lawyer Marc Picker. "Their story hasn’t changed."

The horse-shootings oc-curred on Dec. 27, 1998, and the three men were arrested in February 1999. They originally were charged with killing more than two dozen wild horses.

A justice of the peace dismissed the more-serious charges against them after a preliminary hearing in September 1999.

Then in March, Griffin further reduced the prosecution’s case, saying there was insufficient evidence to proceed on all but one gross misdemeanor involving a single horse.

The 1999 Nevada Legislature passed a law making the killing of a wild horse a felony — a move described by Claassen as the best result of the case.

"It’s frustrating, but the district attorney has a duty not to prosecute cases where you don’t have the evidence to back the charges," Claassen said.

"The problem was that we could match one casing to one of their guns. But the slugs recovered from the horses were so bashed-up that we could only tell what type they were — not what gun they were fired from."