A 68-year-old Kahaluu man convicted of animal cruelty 11 years ago said he is not guilty of new charges after police and Hawaiian Humane Society officials confiscated 33 dogs from his home.
James Montgomery was indicted July 5 by an Oahu grand jury on one count each of first- and second-degree animal cruelty. He was released after posting $25,000 bail.
Montgomery entered a plea of not guilty Monday morning, and Circuit Judge Colette Garibaldi set his trial to begin the week of Sept. 12.
Second-degree animal cruelty is typically a misdemeanor but becomes a Class C felony if the offense involves 10 or more animals, the city Prosecutor’s Office said. First-degree animal cruelty is a Class C felony punishable by up to five years in prison.
Montgomery, a former Kaiser High School teacher, pleaded guilty to 55 counts of animal cruelty 10 years ago and was fined $5,500.
Montgomery was arrested on a felony animal-cruelty charge May 21 after police and the Hawaiian Humane Society raided his Mahakea Road home. He was released pending further investigation until police arrested him again July 5, after the indictment.
Thirty-three dogs were seized. Two were found in a trash can — one dead and the other emaciated and anemic. The Humane Society completed a necropsy on the dog but declined to release the results until Montgomery’s trial.
About 10 dogs were in a windowless bunker at the bottom of a hillside in the backyard, and about 15 were in a structure connected to the home. About a half-dozen newborn puppies were taken from another part of the home, the Humane Society said at the time of the raid.
The Humane Society reported there was no lighting in the bunker and that dogs were raised in the dark in cages with wire bottoms, allowing urine and feces to fall through. The bunker had no ventilation, and the animals were kept without food or water. The dogs are now in animal foster care.
Under a 2006 plea agreement, Montgomery was granted a deferred acceptance of a guilty plea, which allowed the conviction to be removed from his record. The confiscated animals were returned to him after the case ended, and he was allowed to sell them.
