Judge: confiscation ‘unjustifiable’
Judge: confiscation ‘unjustifiable’
Ruling goes in livestock producer’s favor
By STU MERRY
A South Central District Court judge has determined that animals taken by McLean County officials from a Douglas area farmer this past week for alleged mistreatment was done unjustifiably.
Judge David E. Reich ruled Tuesday that Layton Reynolds be allowed to “redeem his cattle” from a livestock barn in Mandan. Reynolds said that he has done so. The livestock were penned at Kist Livestock in Mandan.
McLean County officials have been monitoring the care of livestock on the Reynolds farm since April 2009. Following a number of investigations by the McLean County Sheriff’s Department and testimony by eyewitnesses, authorities maintained that livestock belonging to Reynolds or that were under his care had not been properly fed and watered.
