Women who were charged for feeding stray cats in Wetumpka, Ala., were sentenced this week.
According to the Montgomery Advertiser, 85-year-old Beverly Roberts and 61-year-old Mary Alston were each sentenced to two years of unsupervised probation and 10 days in jail by City Judge Jeff Courtney.
“The jail sentence was suspended,” said the outlet. “They were also ordered to each pay $100 in fines, plus court costs.”
Police told Alston and Roberts to leave a vacant lot on downtown Wetumpka this June because they didn’t want them to feed cats on the public property. An argument escalated when the women said that feeding the animals wasn’t illegal and they were arrested on misdemeanor charges and taken to the Elmore County Jail.
“Y’all have three cop cars because I’m feeding cats?” asked Alston in body camera footage shared by AL.com.
The Wetumpka Police Department appeared to address the incident in a Facebook post that was unavailable as of Saturday.
“The case has received national attention from animal rights groups that say the treatment of the women was unduly harsh given the circumstances,” said the Advertiser. Animal protection group Animal Victory said that it is “devastated to report that Mary Alston and Beverly Roberts were found guilty of four criminal charges on December 13.”
After a trial that lasted more than five hours, Roberts was found guilty of criminal trespassing and disorderly conduct and Alston was convicted of criminal trespassing and interfering with governmental operations.
Their defense attorneys plan to appeal the verdict to circuit court and demand a jury trial.
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