Prosecutors try to reinstate charges in wild horse shootings

Brendan Riley

Monday, Oct. 23, 2000 | 5:07 a.m.

VIRGINIA CITY, Nev. - Prosecutors sought Monday to expand wild horse-killing charges against two ex-Marines and a friend, despite defense lawyers' claims of a weak, fuzzy case against their clients.

Sharon Claasen, the deputy Storey County district attorney, told a Nevada Supreme Court panel there was probable cause for 22 counts - instead of one apiece allowed by a lower court judge against each defendant.

Claassen also argued there's a legal basis for turning the single gross-misdemeanor counts into felonies against former Lance Cpls. Scott Brendle and Darien Brock and their former Wooster High friend, Anthony Merlino.

The three were arrested after more than 30 wild horses were shot near this historic mining town at Christmastime 1998. Most were found dead although several wounded horses had to be destroyed by officers.

The shootings prompted international outrage. While court action is pending, the case also resulted in less-than-honorable military discharges for Brendle and Brock.

Merlino's lawyer, Scott Freeman, argued a lower court judge found there was no case against the three men except for a single horse-shooting to which each admitted, and that finding can't be overturned without a showing of substantial error.

Brendle's lawyer, John Ohlson, said Carson City District Judge Mike Griffin's ruling would be difficult to overturn because prosecutors conceded there could have been other people shooting horses in the area - even before Brock, Brendle and Merlino arrived.

Brock's attorney, Marc Picker, also challenged a prosecution proposal to add the value of each dead horse until the total tops $5,000 - the point at which a gross misdemeanor turns into a felony. He said the value of a wild horse was too subjective to justify such action.

The current gross misdemeanor charges against the defendants carry a penalty of up to one year in the county jail and a fine of up to $2,000. A felony conviction could mean a prison term from one to five years and a fine up to $10,000.

The court will rule in the case later.