The Case of Piper the Sheltie and COSR's Hail Mary Pass

I’ve been staring at this blank page wondering just what to say. Here it is, over a year since the Piper travesty started and the wheels of justice grind so slowly, I’m beginning to think they rusted to a stop.

Upon receiving the newest court documents and reading them, SMH! is all I can muster. (yes, public documents… please no accusations from the other side. Freedom of information may not be your friend but that is how the system works. Besides aren’t you proud of your actions?)

Again, maybe because I am not an attorney, I’m not understanding everything, but from a “man on the street perspective”, this really stinks. Just my opinion but…..

With Seconds Left to the Game...

There was an affidavit, submitted by COSR’s attorney on April 24, 2015 requesting that Judge O’Grady step down from the case. Yup, you read that right. COSR’s attorney is worried things won’t go their way, so they are asking for another judge.

Of course you know what that means, don’t you? It means a delay while a new judge is assigned and a new court date is scheduled.

This Hail Mary Pass, was delivered right before things were about to get moving in the courts. This diversion adds MORE time for Piper the Sheltie to be withheld from her owners and MORE expense for the owners. In my mind this won’t change the end result, though.

Methinks however, that COSR is hoping Veronica runs out of legal funds and that is how they will win, by default.

We need to speak loudly and with one voice that taking someone’s dog, refusing to return it, is to us, unacceptable, despicable, immoral, unethical and illegal.

Why Ask For Judge O'Grady to Recuse Himself?

Wait for it….

The COSR attorney believes that the judge could not be impartial, that he would not be able to preside over the trial fairly because he favored the Plainiffs (Veronica and Michele) as the rightful owners.

Get that?

This will be the second judge that sees through this sham. The first was Judge Tyack who issued the seizure of Piper from Penny. Now we have Judge number two, Judge O’Grady seeing this case for what it is. Which is why he denied the protective order against "harassment", and required them to answer the discovery sent to them and ordered the exam of Piper the Sheltie. (Sorry, no info yet on Piper.)

But I'm a Tad Confused

I can see a judge looking at what was already presented and attempting to get COSR to realize they don’t have a case, that they would be wasting their time and money taking this to trial. But I thought this was a jury trial, so even if the judge had an opinion, he wouldn’t be making a final decision, the jury would. Or did I miss something?

And with the additional individuals included in the case, Judge O’Grady’s son, as a County Commissioner was recently named as a Defendant. So wouldn’t that be in COSR’s favor? IF (very big if) the judge were going to act on his opinions, wouldn’t he be more inclined to keep his son from harm and side with COSR in order to do that?

Apparently it is not a strong enough reason for COSR to keep this judge. Which says a lot for the rest of the case. Looks like COSR is worried they don’t have a snowball’s chance in hell of winning this.

I guess it’s good to hear that it’s not just Veronica or her lawyers (or us for that matter) that think this is wrong. I guess it’s good to have individuals in the legal system also voice the same opinion.

Unfortunately, it doesn’t do any good if Veronica and Piper have to wait even longer until another judge gets up to speed on this. I hope s/he is a closed mouthed individual regardless of his/her opinion so this can finally go through to the bitter end without any more hiccups.

And the Icing On the Cake

To add insult to injury, apparently, COSR and friends are milking the “harassment” and “fear for their safety” card even now. You would think that mobsters in fedoras and trench coats with submachine guns blasting were storming the courthouse as Penny and crew cower and quiver in some corner.

Because, well, you know, there really isn’t any security in courthouses, is there?

Oh, wait, yes there is.

This is the same ploy as the burglary that wasn’t. Where Veronica and supporters were accused of breaking into Penny’s house, but nothing came of that either. Just smoke and mirrors.

So everyone, just remember, you can be angry. You can voice your opinion about what is happening. But let’s continue the way we have from the beginning. Don’t direct any threats at COSR or the other supporters. While Veronica can’t be held responsible for your actions, nor can she force you to behave in any way, let’s just make sure that the accusations continue to be totally unsubstantiated.

In the meantime, we sit, we wait, we watch for more news... AND we help Veronica.

UPDATE: New Judge assigned: John Brandt.

Next Court Date: May 21, 2015