BEDFORD — A jury found a Claysburg man guilty on four counts of felony aggravated cruelty to animals-torture after a one-day trial on Thursday.
Allen Wayne Weyant, 64, was also convicted in Bedford County Court of four misdemeanor counts each of cruelty to animals and neglect of animals, one summary charge application dog license/fees and four summary charges of vaccination against rabies required-proof of vaccination.
The charges came after State Trooper Colton Wassell discovered four emaciated dogs on Weyant’s property while assisting Greenfield Township police serve Weyant with an arrest warrant.
After reading the verdict, President Judge Travis Livengood revoked Weyant’s bail, scheduled his sentencing for Oct. 27 and ordered a presentence investigation.
When Weyant asked Livengood why his bail was being revoked, Livengood said that there had been several instances of Weyant failing to show up for court. He was then taken into custody.
Prior to the start of the trial, Weyant sat at the defense table alone and Livengood asked if he was aware that he had the right to an attorney. Weyant told Livengood that he wanted an attorney but that he couldn’t afford one.
Livengood asked Weyant if he had applied for a public defender, to which Weyant said that he had been denied because he couldn’t provide the needed documents. Livengood then asked if Weyant tried to appeal the decision. Weyant replied that he wasn’t aware he could.
Livengood also asked Weyant if he had time to consider the plea agreement offered by District Attorney Dwight Diehl, to which Weyant said that he didn’t know there was an offer. Diehl took a few minutes to go over the deal with him, which Weyant promptly rejected.
According to Diehl, the original offer had been nine to 23 months’ in jail in exchange for guilty pleas to the misdemeanor charges. The felonies would have been dropped. On the day of the trial, Diehl offered six to 23.5 months and some probation for the same exchange.
Diehl said Weyant rejected both offers because he didn’t believe he should serve any jail time.
“This is getting out of hand,” Weyant said. “I think you should appoint me an attorney.”
Livengood pointed out that “at least four months ago” a continuance was granted because he had said that he intended to hire private counsel.
“You’ve had a lot of time to get an attorney here if you wanted one,” Livengood said. “I can’t do everything for you.”
Weyant said he would be defending himself.
Once the jury was seated, Diehl explained that in Pennsylvania, the definition of torture as it relates to animal cruelty means to cause or allow “severe or prolonged pain by not providing adequate food, water or veterinary care.”
Diehl said that Weyant’s four dogs were “just not cared for at all” and that he “knowingly tortured these animals.”
During his opening statement, Weyant asked the jury to “keep an open mind.”
“I don’t understand how they figure there was torture involved,” Weyant said.
The prosecution called Wassell, who was working the night of Oct. 3, 2022, when the Greenfield Township police requested assistance to serve Weyant with a warrant.
Wassell said that he observed one dog that appeared to be deceased. He approached the dogbox and knocked but got no response. He said that the other dogs tried to bark at him, but they sounded “raspy.” It was then that the first dog tried to lift its head.
Wassell said the dogs were “blue-tick style hound dogs.”
Wassell said Holly was the dog that was “unable to stand, unable to bark.” The dog “was very weak and appeared very, very, very emaciated.”
He said that three other dogs appeared to be in similar conditions to Holly.
Wassell said the area where the dogs were kept was extremely dirty, with a lot of feces, no food or water and inadequate shelter.
Wassell said that Weyant surrendered the dogs to Central Pennsylvania Humane Society Police Officer Paul Gotshall. Weyant was unable to say when he had last fed and watered the dogs or the last time the kennels had been cleaned.
Upon cross-examination, there was back-and-forth between Weyant and Wassell about the warrant being served, the officers who were present, where Wassell was and what was said and by whom.
Weyant took Wassell through all the photos that Wassell had taken and asked questions about them.
Diehl called on Gotshall ,asking him to describe his first impression of Weyant’s four dogs.
“The dogs appeared very underweight,” Gotshall said.
Gotshall said there was not any suitable food or water readily available.
“I did not observe anything except garbage and feces nearby,” Gotshall said.
Gotshall said that the temperature outside was about 30 degrees and that dogs are only to be tied outside for a maximum of seven hours a day. He also said that the plastic structures the dogs were housed in were not sufficient and did nothing to keep out the heat and cold.
“None of them were clean or sanitary,” Gotshall said, adding that the dogs were completely infested with fleas.
Once the prosecution rested its case, Weyant took the stand in his own defense. He told the jury that he had someone else take care of the dogs because he worked out of town three to four days a week, that he did “hunt them hard” and that they were all microchipped.
“I understand the look of the dogs and why people might think the way they do, but these dogs were run hard,” Weyant said, adding that they sweat a lot while running in the hot weather.
Weyant also claimed that the dogs had access to water.
Upon cross-examination, Deihl asked if Weyant was the one who had signed over ownership of the dogs, to which Weyant said that he didn’t know he was turning over ownership. He claimed that he thought he was signing over for them to take care of the dogs because he was going to jail.
During closing arguments, Weyant again asked the jury to keep an open mind and said that there was no intent of any kind to neglect the dogs.
“It’s not what it looks like,” Weyant said. “Dogs have to be kept in shape. It’s hard to keep weight on them.”
Diehl told the jury that he believed the commonwealth had “proven each and every element of the case beyond a reasonable doubt.” He said that Weyant claimed that the dogs were hunted hard and that it was hard to keep weight on them, but the dogs were severely underweight.
“If he didn’t do it intentionally, he allowed it to happen,” Diehl said.
Following the trial, Gotshall said that the dogs had all made full recoveries and have since been adopted.
Mirror Staff Writer Rachel Foor is at 814-946-7458.