Horse’s owner cleared of animal cruelty charges

A 39-year-old Little Rock man whose horse was euthanized last June after police found it suffering from a crippling hoof disease was cleared of animal cruelty by a Pulaski County jury Wednesday.

Prosecutors Anna Catherine Cargile and Reese Lancaster accused Jorge Omar “George” Garcia of deliberately “torturing” Pete the horse.

But defense attorney Danielle Hasty told jurors that there was no evidence that Garcia deliberately mistreated the animal, which had been a gift for his 15-year-old daughter. Garcia purchased Pete in February 2018 and kept him on a halfacre at 8113 Mabelvale Cut Off.

Hasty, with co-counsel Victoria Leigh and Tara Mills, said Garcia had done his best for the animal, keeping Pete fed, watered, groomed and sheltered, then treating the horse with store-bought and prescription medications when it started limping and developing sores in mid-May.

Garcia told jurors that he’d consulted a veterinarian but could not persuade the doctor to go look at the horse. He said he had no way to get the animal to a veterinarian.

Garcia, speaking through an interpreter, told the eight women and four men on the jury before Circuit Judge Barry Sims that he’d checked in on the horse two to three times a day to feed and water it. Supporting his testimony were daughter Stephanie Garcia; his oldest daughter, Celeste Garcia; her fiance Edwin Bradshaw; and Garcia’s wife, Maura, who also said they helped care for the horse.