An organizer who advocated for the release of these chickens has been convicted of a felony. The jury was not allowed to see footage of animal suffering.

DXE message, 11/2/23:

“After 6 days of deliberation, the jury has found animal rescuer Wayne Hsiung GUILTY on three of the four charges in the #SonomaRescueTrial. This includes felony conspiracy and misdemeanor trespass at Sunrise Farms and misdemeanor trespass at Reichardt Duck Farm. The jury could not reach a unanimous verdict on the felony conspiracy charge from the Reichardt action, resulting in a “hung jury” mistrial on that charge.

Wayne was cuffed and immediately taken into custody. He has a sentencing hearing set for November 30th. He will be in jail until then, without bail. We will be mobilizing at the sentencing hearing to support Wayne and defend the #RightToRescue. Please join us on November 30th in Santa Rosa.

Help us tell the world about this breaking news by sharing our posts on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.

Wayne will be appealing this conviction, and this means he has the chance to establish case law in the appellate court. Winning an appeal would not only vindicate his actions but also set a legal precedent that would impact future animal rescue cases.

The mass open rescues at Sunrise Farms and Reichardt Duck Farm that led to this trial were last-resort efforts to aid animals after the authorities ignored repeated reports showing clear evidence of criminal animal cruelty. If the jury had been allowed to see the full extent of suffering at these factory farms, they might have understood that the intent of our actions was not to commit a crime but simply to aid severely neglected animals. This conviction won’t stop us from taking action we know is legally and morally right to aid suffering animals.

In fact, immediately after the verdict, DxE activists went straight from the courtroom to the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office to report new footage from Sunrise Farms and Reichardt that shows sick, injured animals are still languishing at these facilities.

While the District Attorney has been wasting taxpayer money putting animal rescue on trial for the past seven weeks, DxE investigators have been busy documenting violations of animal cruelty laws and rescuing individuals in need of emergency medical care.

Today, we are sharing the stories of two of the animals we’ve saved in the past several weeks, Elsie and River, and we are demanding that the Sonoma County District Attorney finally address the rampant criminal activity at Sunrise and Reichardt. You can help by sharing our video about these breaking rescues on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter. And stay tuned for more ways you can support.

Cassie”

Farm’s Phone Number: (707)-762-6314

 

Related: action at Sunrise Farms