By Karen Gleason
The 830 Times
A jury has returned a not guilty verdict in the case against an Eagle Pass man charged with felony animal cruelty for whipping a horse at the county fairgrounds here in 2022.
The state district court jury deliberated for just over an hour before finding horse trainer Rodolfo Sanchez, 62, not guilty of the offense of cruelty to a livestock animal in the whipping of a three-year-old mare at the Val Verde County Fairgrounds on April 4, 2022.
Del Rioan Megan Fields videotaped the incident that resulted in Sanchez’s arrest on her cell phone’s camera. She also called 9-1-1 after she saw and recorded the incident.
Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office animal control officers and deputies responded and opened an animal cruelty investigation. Sanchez was subsequently arrested and charged, and the horse, a quarter horse mare named Fool For It, was seized and placed in a horse sanctuary elsewhere in the state.
The jury in the case, comprised of seven women and five men, was seated on Tuesday, and testimony in the trial began Wednesday. 83rd Judicial District Judge Robert E. Cadena served as the presiding judge.
Assistant District Attorney Jessica Shawver-Savino led the prosecution team during the trial, and Eagle Pass attorney Ricardo Ramos represented Sanchez.
Shawver-Savino’s first witness for the prosecution was Fields, the woman who stopped and videotaped the incident.
Shawver-Savino played Fields’ video for the jury. In it, a man later identified as Sanchez, the owner and trainer of the horse, is shown apparently repeatedly whipping the horse as it lies on its side in the dirt. The video also shows that the horse is tied to a tree between one of the shed rows at the county fairgrounds.
Jurors on the first day also heard from Emmett R. Salinas of the county’s animal control department and from Val Verde Sheriff’s Office Deputy Juan Parra, who conducted the investigation of the case, and VVSO Investigator Mario Vargas, who assisted Parra.
During Vargas’ testimony, Shawver-Savino played a video of an interrogation of Sanchez by Parra and Vargas, conducted after Sanchez’s arrest.
In the interview, Sanchez at first professes confusion about why investigators want to talk to him, and when Vargas and Parra begin questioning him about the videotaped incident, he repeatedly claimed he didn’t know why he did what he did.
“I have never used violence with any horse,” Sanchez told Parra in the video.
“So what happened this time?” Parra asked.
“I don’t know, I was trying to do it the right way, but didn’t do them right,” Sanchez replied.
Near the end of the interview, in response to questions by Vargas, Sanchez again protested he “had never used that method before.”
“Well, was this the wrong way or a good way?” Vargas asked.
“I think I did it wrong,” Sanchez replied.
Shawver-Savino also called Dr. Laura Norland, a veterinarian from Round Rock, Texas, and Kristine Fullerton, a breeder, owner and trainer of champion quarter horses.
Norland spoke about her examination of Fool For It after the horse was confiscated and awarded to the Val Verde County Sheriff’s Office, and Fullerton spoke about general practices of horse handling and training.
Ramos cross-examined both Norland and Fullerton at length, and Norland testified she did not know if the horse had been injured from the incident.
Shawver-Savino rested the state’s case following Fullerton’s testimony.
The trial continued Thursday, with Ramos calling two witnesses for the defense: Shae Cox, a horse owner and trainer from Hutto, Texas, and Francisco “Frank” Dena of Quemado, Texas, who has owned horses trained by Sanchez.
Cox testified she volunteered to take in Fool For It after being made aware of the video and viewing it online.
Cox told jurors that while the horse was in her care, it attempted to strike out at humans who interacted with her and said she was aware the mare was the offspring of an equine bloodline of aggressive horses.
She said Fool For It “flipped over” in her stall, adding she believed the horse was in the “serial killer category.”
Cox told jurors she “believed the horse needs to be euthanized.”
Ramos asked Cox if she believed the way Sanchez treated the horse “falls within general agricultural practices.
“Yes,” Cox replied, adding the horse had no whip marks on her following the incident of the video.
Dena testified he had known Sanchez for years and had never known him to mistreat the horses he trained.
Ramos rested the case for the defense following Cox’s and Dena’s testimonies.
Shawver-Savino then called a final witness, Margaret Ransom, who owns and operates The Bridge, an equine sanctuary where Fool For It – now named Eleanor – currently lives.
Ransom disputed Cox’s testimony that the horse was dangerous, saying the horse is gentle and has never behaved aggressively while in her care.
The case went to the jury Thursday afternoon, following closing statements by Shawver-Savino and Ramos.
Shawver-Savino went first and last, as the law requires.
In the first of her closing statements, Shawver-Savino thanked the jurors for their service and attention and argued the state had met its burden of proof and proved the elements of the crime, one of which was that the horse had been tortured, a term legally defined as an act “that causes unjustifiable pain and suffering.”
“Even he (Sanchez) admitted what he did was wrong,” Shawver-Savino said, reminding jurors of Sanchez’s interview with investigators.
Ramos also thanked the jurors for their service and reminded them of their duty to hold the state to its burden of proof and that Sanchez is presumed innocent of the charge unless they were convinced of his guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.
Ramos pointed out none of the witnesses, whether veterinarian or the horse trainers who testified, could say that Fool For It was in poor condition.
He argued the state never produced the whip used in the incident nor was there a report or testimony from the first veterinarian who examined the horse. He told jurors Sanchez waved the whip to make noise to get the horse up off the ground, not to injure or hurt it.
“I want you to ask yourself why pieces of evidence are missing. . . This was a misunderstanding that turned tragic. . . I am asking you to return the only verdict the evidence demands. We ask that you let Mr. Sanchez go free. Find Mr. Sanchez not guilty,” Ramos said.
In the last half of her closing, Shawver-Savino said the true tragedy of the case was the suffering the horse had endured and said the community is lucky to have someone like Fields, who stopped to document the incident and call authorities.
“He (Sanchez) tried to beat that horse into submission. Take him (Sanchez) at his word that he ‘wasn’t right to do it’. . . I’m asking you to send a message to Rodolfo Sanchez that what he did that day was completely unacceptable. Send the message that we do not beat our horses in Val Verde County. Find the defendant guilty,” Shawver-Savino said.
The jury began its deliberations in the case at 2:25 p.m. Thursday and notified the bailiff at 3:53 p.m. that a verdict had been reached.
Sanchez stood with Ramos as the jury foreman read the verdict. Sanchez showed no visible emotion as the not guilty verdict was read or later, when Cadena told him he was free to go.
Cadena, too, thanked the jurors for their work.
“I know this was a difficult case, and we need people like you to make these decisions,” Cadena said.
