Bridger woman sentenced for animal cruelty

BILLINGS (AP) — A Bridger-area woman who violated a requirement she not own any animals as conditions set in an animal cruelty case has been sentenced to 15 years in prison.

The Billings Gazette reports (http://bit.ly/19q9SKq) that Teresa Martin was sentenced Friday in Carbon County District Court. Thirteen years of the sentence were suspended.

Judge Blair Jones also ordered that Martin not be allowed to own any more animals, including goldfish.

"If she's going to treat horses in the way she's treated them, she's forfeited any right to own any animals," said Jones. "When you look at the condition of these horses, it's heartbreaking."

Martin and her husband, Jack Martin, pleaded no contest in 2011 to 26 counts of felony aggravated animal cruelty after seven dead horses and numerous starving horses were found on their property.

Jack Martin was given a two-year suspended sentence while Teresa Martin received a four-year deferred sentence.

The couple was arrested again in July after a probation officer found a dozen horses in poor condition on their property. Jack Martin last month was re-sentenced to two years in prison.

In the previous animal cruelty case, the Martins were ordered to find new homes for the surviving horses from the original herd of 65.

Montana brand inspector Pete Olson said that when carrying out the judge's order last year, he wrote transfer papers to sell a dozen horses to an Oregon buyer.

But he said in Court on Friday that the horses ended up on a ranch near Rapelje. He also said that Teresa Martin had misled the landowner by telling him she owned the horses and the Oregon man was just the trainer. He said the horses suffered.

"They had eaten their tails off, so it looked to me they had been without feed at some point," he said.

Jones said Teresa Martin refused to accept responsibility for the condition of the horses.

"The truth is that you starved these horses, some of them to death," Jones said. "You can deny it all you want, but it's true, and the court isn't going to let this happen again."

Olson said that of the 65 horses, seven died two years ago, 10 are in Pompeys Pillar, 12 are in Hardin, and 36 are in Belgrade.