Grand Jury Indicts Cavour Men In Felony Animal Abuse Case

A Beadle County Grand Jury has indicted two Cavour men in the alleged beating of a horse. Beadle County Sheriff’s Deputy’s arrested 67-year-old Dennis Kerney and 35-year-old Justin Murray March 11th under South Dakota’s felony animal cruelty law. The men were indicted by the Grand Jury Friday. Court documents indicate the pair struck an Appaloosa horse on the head and back with wooden clubs as they attempted to groom the animal. The documents say Kerney and Murray hit the animal as it acted up during the grooming attempt. The horse sustained injuries to the left check bone and cuts to a front leg. The men are out of jail after posting 500-dollar bonds shortly after their arrest. The case is the first in Beadle County to use the felony level animal cruelty charge that became law following the 2014 legislative session. South Dakota was the last state in the country to enact a felony animal cruelty statue. Kerney and Murray are scheduled to be arraigned on the charges April seventh.