The Fayette County Grand Jury has returned a true bill of indictment against 17-year-old Jeremy Ryan Richardson in the arrow attack on a horse at a Bankstown Road farm in Brooks in early January.
The indictment carries five charges. Those include aggravated cruelty to animals — a felony — and misdemeanor charges of hunting deer at night, disturbing wildlife habitat, failure to record a deer harvest and unlawful possession or use of wildlife, according to court documents.
Richardson — who lives near Brooks in southern Fayette County — is expected to be arraigned in April, with a possible trial date toward the end of the year.
Specific to the shooting of the 8-year-old mare Misty on the farm owned by Ralph and Nancy Padovano, the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office previously noted that Richardson, who used a compound bow, knowingly and maliciously caused physical harm to an animal (horse) by seriously disfiguring the animal … by shooting multiple arrows into the horse striking her in the body and the face.
The horse suffered four arrow wounds in the attack that was discovered Jan. 3 at 9:30 a.m. by a neighbor, 17-year-old Rachel Byrd.
The horse was impaled by an arrow that was found in her neck, another that was lodged in her spine and required four hours to be removed by veterinarian Jason McLendon. The horse was also shot in the face and the left shoulder.
The indictment was based on charges originating with an investigation by the Fayette County Sheriff’s Office, the Ga. Dept. of Agriculture and the Ga. Dept. of Natural Resources.
