Bona Set to Start Sentence

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Created on Tuesday, 03 November 2015 19:01
Written by Alex Paduch

 

bonaLYNDON – After losing an appeal filed with the Vermont Supreme Court, Lyndon resident Bruce Bona will be headed to prison on Friday following his conviction of 17 counts of animal cruelty. Back in February 2014, police removed horses from Bona’s property, citing malnourishment and neglect. After being found guilty in November of that year, Bona, representing himself, took his case to the State Supreme Court citing wrongdoings by the state prosecution.

 Along with claiming he was denied access to veterinarian records and that his horses were seized illegally, he mentioned the “failure to record [a stamped and filed] document in the record.”

“The defense feels that it was denied it’s constitutional rights of access to the courts and the right to discover favorable evidence”, said Bona during his Supreme Court hearing this September. The three-judge panel that heard the case did not agree with Bona’s testimony, citing his vague accusations. The panel stated that, “the defendant fails to explain how he was prejudiced by the alleged removal of the document. We cannot discern any prejudice from an examination of the record before us”.

According to documents from the Caledonia County courthouse, Bona will begin his 20-month minimum sentence this Friday. He will serve a 15-day jail sentence, and then spend 60 days on a work crew based out of the Northeast Correctional Complex. After leaving the work crew, Bona will face a minimum of 18 months on probation, with a maximum of five years. In the terms of his probation, Bona cannot own any horses or livestock, must submit to a psychological screening if asked to do so, and must pay three different humane societies restitution while they take care of his horses.

Caledonia County Judge, Robert Bent set the figure at $22,302 which will be divided amongst three humane societies that will be taking care of Bona’s 21 horses while finding permanent homes for them. Victory’s Elizabeth H. Brown Humane Society received the largest award, being granted $14,194 to cover the cost of the dozen horses they took in.

According to Pat Mitchell, the President of the society, all 12 horses have left her facility after returning to full health. Although the courts awarded over $22,000 to the three societies, Mitchell says that the actual cost to bring the horses back to health topped $50,000 dollars. “It takes a lot of money to take care of 21 healthy horses, not to mention horses that are starved like these horses were", Mitchell said. “The other money has come from foster people. We haven’t received any money from Bona himself”. 

An effort was made to reach Bona, but there has been no response as of yet.