Three members of the Mogensen family that has run the Natural Bridge Zoo will face a 10-day trial in February on multiple counts of animal abuse and related charges.
That trial will be the first of three separate trials that have grown out of the 2023 raid of the roadside zoo in Rockbridge County.
Karl Mogensen, his wife, Debbie, and daughter Sasha (also known as Gretchen) are set to go on trial Feb. 8-22, 2027.
Veterinarian Ashley Spencer faces a two-day trial March 8 and 9 on charges that she forged documents.
Former elephant keeper Mark Easley is scheduled for a three-day trial March 22-24 on charges related to animal abuse.
At a court hearing Monday in Rockbridge County Circuit Court, attorneys for the defendants tried to get the charges dismissed for one reason or another. Circuit Judge Christopher Russell denied all the motions, except for two related to two of Spencer’s four indictments. Her attorneys questioned the wording of those indictments; Russell said he would have to study the matter before ruling.
The prosecution is being handled by Michelle Welch from the attorney general’s animal unit, acting on behalf of Rockbridge County. The attorneys challenged her appointment as unlawful; Russell denied those motions.
Russell was particularly sharp with two out-of-state attorneys representing Spencer. One attorney wanted a transcript of the grand jury proceedings that indicted his client; Russell chastised him for not knowing Virginia law. “That is a very troubling statement,” the judge said, because Virginia grand juries don’t produce transcripts.
Later he challenged the second attorney, who contended that the document Spencer had allegedly forged, a certificate of veterinary inspection, doesn’t qualify as a public document. The judge didn’t buy that argument and challenged the contention that the indictment wasn’t specific enough.
“We’re kind of in the sticks in Rockbridge County,” he said. “I don’t sit in the Manhattan District Court or some big city. We’ve done it like this in Rockbridge County for 200 years. We get indictments that are two lines long.”
Russell denied the motion to declare the veterinary certificate not to be a public document but said he’d take another look at the wording of two indictments to see if they were legally proper.
