NC woman pleads guilty in horse starvation case (22 horses)

RALEIGH, NC (WRAL/WMBF) - A Cary, N.C., woman will spend at least three months in prison after 22 horses and a dog were found dead on her family’s farm in January.

According to NBC affiliate WRAL in Raleigh, Janet Elaine Lavender Burleson, of 555 Cross Roads Blvd. in Cary, pleaded guilty Friday to 10 counts of animal cruelty. District Court Judge Robert Rader sentenced her to five to 15 months in prison, but gave her credit for the two months she’s already spent behind bars.

Necropsies determined the animals died of starvation at the farm, on Fanny Brown Road, in the southern part of Wake County.

According to arrest warrants, Burleson deprived each of the horses of "adequate food and water while it was kept locked inside a small, insufficient pen which prevented the animal a chance to fend for its own survival, resulting in the death of the animal due to starvation."

Burleson's attorney said she stopped caring for the animals in December after she got sick. She has had mental health problems since a car accident 16 years ago, and those memory lapses caused her to
[link to www.wmbfnews.com]