May 22, 2013
MOULTON, Ala. (AP) -- Five men have been found not guilty on all charges in connection with the raid of a cockfighting operation in August 2011.
The Decatur Daily (http://bit.ly/TvlNca ) reports that each of the defendants was found not guilty on Wednesday by a Lawrence County jury.
The defendants -- 36-year-old Joseph Lynn Holmes of Hanceville, 53-year-old Larry Dale McCroy of Hanceville, 33-year-old Zackary Clay McLeroy of Cullman, 34-year-old James Russell Garnett of Vinemont and 54-year-old Grady Darrel McCroy of Cullman -- faced charges of cruelty to animals and gambling on cockfighting.
Prosecutors say the charges stemmed from an August cockfighting event held in a barn where gamecocks fought in an octagon-shaped ring with bleachers and chairs on both sides.
