Animal cruelty charges against attorney are upheld 

Posted: 8:21 pm Tue, April 27, 2010
By Danny Jacobs
Daily Record Legal Affairs Writer

A Baltimore County lawyer and his wife have been found guilty of neglecting one of their horses, which was found in such an emaciated condition by county officials that it was euthanized on the spot.

Hilton and Donna Silver face a maximum of 90 days in jail when they are sentenced June 29 in Baltimore County Circuit Court by Judge Thomas J. Bollinger Sr. The Silvers have each already served 6 days in jail after pleading guilty last year in county District Court to neglecting the horse, named Calypso.

Assistant State’s Attorney Adam Lippe said Tuesday he planned to ask Bollinger to sentence the couple to the remaining 84 days of their jail sentences, and to fine the couple for more than $16,000 in restitution to the county for caring for the two other horses taken from the Silvers’ Windsor Mill home in the days after Calypso was euthanized.

“It’s not an act of omission — it’s an act of commission,” Lippe said in court. “They did nothing and decided to do nothing.”

Bollinger also ordered the couple to undergo psychiatric evaluations by the court’s psychiatrist and a private practitioner of their choice, which can be part of the penalty under a criminal statute for animal neglect.

Lippe said following the hearing that he has referred Hilton Silver’s case to the Attorney Grievance Commission. Silver, a Baltimore County solo practitioner, has been licensed in Maryland for 25 years without any record of public discipline. The commission has not filed a case against Silver, according to court records. Melvin Hirshman, state bar counsel, cited commission policy in not commenting on whether Silver is being investigated.

The defendants had separate lawyers but waived their right to testify. They sat next to each other at the defense table flanked by their lawyers but had little interaction. Hilton Silver took notes on a legal pad and conferred with his counsel, David A. Greenbaum, throughout the proceeding. At one point, Silver asked, through Greenbaum, that the charge against him be dropped because it does not exist as written in the criminal code, a request Bollinger denied.

Donna Silver, by contrast, silently wrote in a sketch pad for most of the trial, becoming emotional when details about the horses were being discussed. She was represented by Michelle Moodispaw, an assistant public defender.

Greenbaum, of Freeman, Wolfe & Greenbaum P.A., argued Silver should be acquitted because he did not have “charge or custody” of the horse as the statute requires. The citations issued in the case only named Donna Silver, said Greenbaum, who called the couple’s 23-year-old daughter to testify that Donna Silver was the family member responsible for all of the horses’ care.

Bollinger rejected Greenbaum’s argument, noting the statute indicates the person can be an “owner or otherwise.”

“‘Otherwise’ is far-encompassing,” the judge said.

County police and animal control went to the Silvers’ home in March 2009 after receiving a call about a horse lying under a tarp for several days, according to a police report and courtroom testimony Tuesday. Calypso was lying on her right side in her own fecal matter, unable to raise her head.

Dr. Elizabeth Klebe, the veterinarian who performed the euthanasia, testified the gray mare was 400 pounds underweight and had been deteriorating for weeks, if not months.

“She had suffered substantial pain,” Klebe said. “This had to have been prolonged neglect and prolonged starvation.”

The Silvers have said the 27-year-old mare fell down and they were unable to get her up. The couple said they could not afford euthanasia, according to courtroom testimony.

Klebe, part of a Hampstead veterinary practice, was called to the home by animal control and performed the euthanasia even after the Silvers said they could not afford to pay her in $10 monthly installments because of Calypso’s condition.

“It was inhumane to leave her like that,” she said.