The attorney for the Oxford woman charged with more than 30 misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty said people shouldn’t rush to judgement.
Philip Fazzone spoke to the Valley Indy Monday shortly after his client, Karen Desrosiers, made her first court appearance.
Animal control officers from Oxford and the state raided Desrosiers’ property in February and seized 41 animals allegedly living in horrid conditions.
The animals on the Condon Road property included a horse, 18 chickens, four dogs, a cat, six turkeys, six guinea hens, a pig, a goat, a donkey and two miniature horses.
The animals were in poor health, according to a search warrant, and had little access to food or water. The warrant details the condition of the animals and their surroundings. Click here to read more about the living conditions.
Many of the animals have been placed with new owners, according to NBC Connecticut. A horse, Santana, is still in bad shape, according to the news site.
Old photos and comments from Desrosiers’ Facebook page tell a different story. The page had several photos of a smiling Desrosiers and her family with members of their menagerie.
Desrosiers’ attorney, Fazzone, said Desrosiers is a good person who loves animals. She simply owned too many.
“I believe she had good intentions. She is an animal lover and therefore had accumulated too many animals and became overwhelmed,” Fazzone told the Valley Indy. “That is it. The vets that were involved had conflicting reports as to the conditions of the animals.”
Her attorney also pointed out that Desrosiers cooperated with a civil action brought against her by the state attorney general’s office.
“She freely gave up the animals because she knew at this time she could not care for them the way they needed to be cared for,” Fazzone said. “She’s been through a lot at this point.”
Authorities alleged they had previously warned Desrosiers about the number of animals in her control.
Desrosiers clearly did not want to chat after her court appearance in Derby.
There were just two writers and a photographer hoping to talk to Desrosiers, but a man who accompanied her to court emphatically urged her to “Go, Karen. Go!” as Desrosiers quickly walked down the steps of the court house onto the sidewalk next to Elizabeth Street.
The man wouldn’t give the Valley Indy his name or connection to Desrosiers, but used a cell phone to either photograph or videotape a reporter and a photographer who were standing on the sidewalk after Desrosiers left.
The somewhat bizarre scene stood in contrast to the routine arraignment inside the Derby court house, where Desrosiers simply received another date to appear in court — June 7.
Desrosiers has no prior arrests and may qualify for accelerated rehabilitation, a court diversion program. She did not enter a plea Monday.
