sadavaoito
September 29th, 2011, 10:33 PM
The cockfighting charges filed last year against a South Side man were dismissed Tuesday after prosecutors decided against appealing a judge’s order that threw out a search warrant for the man’s property.
Jorge L. Iglesias, 48, had faced 13 counts of instigating animal fights after a city inspector and humane officers found evidence that roosters at his Moorland Road property had been used for fighting.
On June 24, Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi threw out evidence gleaned from two searches of Iglesias’ property by a city zoning inspector and a humane officer in June 2009, saying they amounted to warrantless searches. Those searches led to the issuance of a search warrant that Sumi said was tainted by the earlier searches.
After her decision, Sumi gave prosecutors time to decide whether they would appeal, and on Tuesday Deputy District Attorney Tim Verhoff said prosecutors would not.
A criminal complaint alleged that inspectors had found a rooster that had been prepared for fighting, including having feathers plucked and its spurs removed.
Police executing a search warrant found 35 game cocks on the property, along with other cockfighting paraphernalia and a disassembled fighting pit, the complaint states.
Under an agreement with Iglesias in January, the 31 roosters that remained were sent to a rural Waunakee farm while 21 hens were sent to another farm near Cross Plains.
.Copyright 2011 madison.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
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Jorge L. Iglesias, 48, had faced 13 counts of instigating animal fights after a city inspector and humane officers found evidence that roosters at his Moorland Road property had been used for fighting.
On June 24, Dane County Circuit Judge Maryann Sumi threw out evidence gleaned from two searches of Iglesias’ property by a city zoning inspector and a humane officer in June 2009, saying they amounted to warrantless searches. Those searches led to the issuance of a search warrant that Sumi said was tainted by the earlier searches.
After her decision, Sumi gave prosecutors time to decide whether they would appeal, and on Tuesday Deputy District Attorney Tim Verhoff said prosecutors would not.
A criminal complaint alleged that inspectors had found a rooster that had been prepared for fighting, including having feathers plucked and its spurs removed.
Police executing a search warrant found 35 game cocks on the property, along with other cockfighting paraphernalia and a disassembled fighting pit, the complaint states.
Under an agreement with Iglesias in January, the 31 roosters that remained were sent to a rural Waunakee farm while 21 hens were sent to another farm near Cross Plains.
.Copyright 2011 madison.com. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.
.