Merlino’s lawyer: “The real shooters are still out there”

Scott SONNER

Wednesday, Sept. 1, 1999 | 11:40 a.m.

RENO, Nev. - A lawyer for one of three men accused of shooting 34 wild horses said Tuesday police had other suspects in the killings and predicted that evidence in court this week would vindicate his client.

Anthony Merlino, 20, and two former Marines, Darien Brock, 21, and Scott Brendle, 22, face a preliminary hearing in Virginia City Wednesday on charges of slaughtering the horses in the foothills east of Reno Dec. 27.

It was the worst attack on the free-roaming mustangs in Nevada since several hundred were shot in the mid-1980s.

"We believe very strongly the real shooters are still out there," said Scott Freeman, a lawyer for Merlino.

"The police certainly have a number of alternative suspects," he told The Associated Press in an interview on Tuesday.

Freeman said he couldn't discuss any specifics but predicted some fireworks at the preliminary hearing, scheduled to last through Friday at the historic Storey County courthouse built in Virginia City in 1876.

Afterwards, a judge will decide whether there is enough evidence to bound the suspects over for a jury trial.

"It is going to be pretty exciting," Freeman said. "I believe the evidence is going to be real interesting how it unfolds.

"We indicated when Mr. Merlino was arrested, he maintained his innocence. His position has been unwavering as it relates to shooting numerous horses," he said.

Freeman declined further comment.

Several young colts and pregnant mares were among those killed in the shootings eight months ago. Some were maimed and at least one was blasted with a chemical fire extinguisher.

Horse protection groups and animal rights activitsts across the country condemned the killings. Brock and Brendle since were given the equivalent of dishonorable discharges from their former Marine Corps bases in California.

All three men - former classmates at Reno's Wooster High School - are charged with grand theft, grand larceny and killing another person's animals.

A preliminary hearing in Virginia City originally was scheduled in May but was postponed partly because Freeman was tied up representing defendants in a federal fraud case against the Mustang Ranch brothel just east of Reno.

Storey County District Attorney Janet Hess and Storey County Sheriff Pat Whitten did not immediately return telephone messages seeking comment Tuesday regarding other suspects.

No other suspects ever were mentioned by Washoe County or Storey County investigators in the days leading up to the arrest of the three in January. Washoe County Sheriff Richard Kirkland said at the time a key turning point in the investigation came when a relative of a sheriff's office employee overheard a conversation at a party.

Brock told a San Diego television station after he was arrested at Camp Pendleton that he saw his two friends shoot just one horse.

"I watched my two friends kill this horse without doing anything about it. Yes, that is wrong. That is what I'm going to court for. But we did not kill 34 horses that night," Brock said in January.