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A Tooele County man was sentenced Wednesday to probation in connection with the dehydration deaths of four horses — but he says he plans to appeal his animal cruelty convictions.
Shamus Josef Haws, 40, was charged in Salt Lake County's Justice Court with 11 counts of class C misdemeanor cruelty to animals for the deaths of 10 horses in Salt Lake County last year.
s seven.
Haws faced up to three months in jail and a $750 fine for each of the four convictions.
But Judge Shauna Graves-Robertson instead ordered him to complete 50 hours of community service and pay a $1,360 fine as part of a one-year probation.
Prosecutors had asked for 10 days in jail, but the judge noted that the acts were crimes of negligence rather than intent.
Ten horses were found dead on July 18, 2014, in a private, fenced field near Pleasant Green Cemetery, near 3500 South and 9200 West in Magna. An 11th horse survived.
Prosecutors said Haws, an Erda horse trainer, put the horses in the pasture on July 8, 2014, and checked on them only once in the next 10 days, despite temperatures reaching the 90s. The high temperature was 96 degrees on the day the horses were found.
Defense attorney Jay Kessler said at trial that although Haws was responsible for the horses, a contract employee for the company he runs with his father-in-law was supposed to make sure a trough in the field was always filled with water.
On Wednesday, Haws' new attorney, Tara Isaacson, told the judge that Haws trusted the employee, who for the previous three years had always made sure the horses had water.
"[Haws] was devastated on this day by the loss of these horses," Isaacson said.
She added that Haws, who was managing 250 horses at the time, has invested $10,000 in a watering system and established strict protocols so a similar incident doesn't happen.
After the sentencing hearing, Isaacson said she plans to file an appeal of the four convictions with the district court, where Haws would be re-tried.
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