Trial in Slaying of Mustang to Be Moved

A judge ordered a rare change of venue in the case of a wild horse shooting, saying dramatic media coverage of the slaughter of 33 mustangs has stacked tiny Storey County against the three defendants.

“I am unable to conclude I can try this case in Storey County,” First District Judge Michael Griffin said Tuesday.

“Pressure exists in this county for the return of a particular kind of verdict,” he said.

The two ex-Marines and a former high school buddy once accused of shooting at least 28 horses with high-powered rifles are now charged in the death of a single mustang.

Griffin ruled last month there wasn’t enough evidence to support the more than two dozen initial charges. The remaining gross misdemeanor charge carries a penalty of up to one year in the county jail and a $2,000 fine.

Griffin said he intends to move the trial to Carson City, Reno or Las Vegas where it will be easier to find jurors less familiar with the horse slayings than the 3,700 residents of Storey County.

The judge said he was aware of only one previous time that a change of venue had been ordered in a criminal trial in Nevada.

The judge said Tuesday that publicity surrounding the mass killing in December 1998 had become the “talk of the town” and that familiarity with the case among prospective jurors was unprecedented in his 20 years on the bench.