WHEATFIELD — A farm animal sanctuary owner, charged with failing to return two wandering cows to their rightful owner, will face a jury in early October in Wheatfield Town Court.
Town Justice Gary Strenkoski scheduled jury selection in the trial of Tracy Murphy to begin on Oct. 3 after a brief hearing Tuesday night. Murphy’s defense attorney, Chris Carraway of the Animal Activist Legal Defense Project, said the trial could take as little as two days.
He said he expects Niagara County prosecutors might call between seven and eight witnesses to testify and estimated he might have an additional three to four witnesses on behalf of Murphy.
“A lot of the witnesses will be brief (in their testimony),” Carraway said. “Most of the facts in this case are not in dispute.”
Murphy, who faces a misdemeanor charge of petit larceny, has rejected a plea offer from prosecutors. The offer called for Murphy to plead guilty to a single count of disorderly conduct.
In return for that plea, Murphy would have received a suspended sentence.
Murphy reportedly rejected the plea because it required her to admit that she violated New York law by refusing to return the cows after finding them on the grounds of her Coomer Road animal sanctuary. The cows had wandered away from a nearby farm.
That admission of guilt, Murphy said, would be “dishonest.”
Murphy was originally charged with third-degree grand larceny, a felony, on Aug. 2, 2022, after being indicted by a Niagara County grand jury. That charge was later reduced by prosecutors to the misdemeanor count of petit larceny.
Her current defense attorney has argued that Murphy had the right to demand proof that Town of Newfane farmer Scott Gregson was the owner of the cows. And that she relied on the advice of a prior attorney, who advised her not to surrender the animals to state police troopers.
The case attracted national attention when Academy Award-winning actor Joaquin Phoenix came to the defense of Murphy and her Asha Farm Sanctuary.
Phoenix, who won the 2020 Oscar for Best Actor for his portrayal of the lead character in “Joker,” said state police who arrested Murphy should have shown more “compassion and mercy.”
“To so harshly punish a woman who was simply showing kindness to two individuals who had wandered onto her property is astounding,” Phoenix said in a written statement issued by his social impact adviser, Michelle Cho. “There was an opportunity here to show compassion and mercy. To allow these peaceful creatures to remain without fear or anticipation of harm for the rest of their lives.”
Phoenix said he applauded Murphy for “standing her ground in the name of animal liberation.”
“What this merciful opportunity was met with was such a shame,” he said.