Free Republic

January 22, 2007 | Day One at the PETA-Kills-Animals trial began with a whimper but ended with an unexpected bang. At the very end of a day consumed by the mundane business of pre-trial motions and jury selection, defense lawyers for PETA employees Adria Hinkle and Andrew Cook asked Hertford County (NC) Superior Court Judge Cy Grant to schedule one final defense motion -- a request "to exclude evidence of other crimes" from the trial. Asked by Judge Grant for her take on this legal maneuver, District Attorney Valerie Asbell explained: "The other crimes, the other things they're seeking to...

PETA Animal-Cruelty Trial Date Finally Set On November 13th, nearly 18 months after their arrest, two employees of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) will face a felony Superior Court trial on animal-cruelty charges in Hertford County, North Carolina. The defendants, Andrew Benjamin Cook and Adria Joy Hinkle, were each indicted on 22 counts of Cruelty to Animals and 3 counts of Obtaining Property By False Pretenses. The Honorable Cy Grant will be presiding. Police in Ahoskie, North Carolina arrested Cook and Hinkle on June 15, 2005 near a shopping-center dumpster, from which they recovered 18 dead pets...