Judge reduces horse trainer's animal-cruelty conviction to misdemeanor

Pictured above: Horse trainer Zvi Kriple, left, sits by his defense attorney Grady Russell during his sentencing hearing this morning in Pomona Superior Court. Photo by staff photographer Mediha Fejzagic DiMartino

Pictured left: In Schlefa's Honor

POMONA -- A judge reduced a Fairplex racehorse trainer's animal cruelty conviction today from a felony to a misdemeanor before sentencing the trainer to probation and ordering him to attend animal cruelty counseling.

Zvi Kriple, 58, was convicted by a Pomona Superior Court jury in November for failing to euthanize or properly treat a racehorse that suffered from a chronic hoof condition.

With Kriple's conviction reduced to a misdemeanor, the Swedish citizen is less likely to face deportation as a result of his prosecution.

"Of course it's a great relief, but the thing is I don't feel I'm guilty at all," Kriple said following his sentencing hearing.

Prosecutors accused Kriple, an owner and trainer of racehorses in Southern California for about the past decade, of neglecting an injured racehorse, In Schlefa's Honor, that he kept in his stable in the Fairplex racetrack.

Kriple agreed to euthanize the horse after investigators from the California Horse Racing Board were notified of its chronic hoof condition in September 2008.

Kriple maintains that he was following a veterinarian's instructions in his treatment of the horse, and he believes the animal could have recovered if authorities had not intervened.

Kriple's attorney, Grady Russell, told Judge Thomas C. Falls today that the trainer's conduct was "barely a misdemeanor," and said he felt an infraction -- the same offense level as a traffic ticket -- would be more appropriate.

"Mr. Kriple is guilty of embracing the idea that this horse should not be put down," Russell said.

Though Falls granted Russell's request to reduce Kriple's conviction to a misdemeanor, the judge still criticized Kriple.

"He should have done something with the animal," Falls said.

The California Horse Racing Board is expected to revoke Kriple's license to train horses, and Kriple said that he does not believe the board will ever reinstate his license.

"They hate me so much," said Kriple, who now works as a long-haul truck driver.

In addition to requiring that Kriple attend animal cruelty counseling during his three-year probation period, Falls ordered Kriple to complete 80 hours of community service and allow the state to examine his horses.

The judge also ordered Kriple to stay away from the Fairplex racetrack, and pay about $8,500 in attorney fees to the Los Angeles County Public Defender's Office.

Earlier in this morning's hearing, Falls denied a motion for a new trial made by Russell, who argued that the judge shouldn't have allowed testimony during the trial about a past allegation of animal abuse lodged against Kriple.