Cheyenne man accused of animal cruelty to be evaluated for mental fitness

May 6—CHEYENNE — The owner of two dogs found starving and dehydrated in October will be evaluated for his mental fitness to proceed with the case.

Roy Castrun Burnett Jr. of Cheyenne will undergo an outpatient evaluation, as requested by his attorney, Ross McKelvey, Monday afternoon in Laramie County District Court.

Assistant District Attorney Rachel Berkness did not object to the motion, and the evaluation was ordered by Laramie County District Judge Thomas Campbell.

The order removes Burnett's case from the court's trial schedule and postpones it indefinitely until a report is completed by a designated medical expert.

Burnett is charged with two felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals (undue suffering) in district court. He pleaded not guilty in December.

McKelvey said during court proceedings that he'd been having trouble communicating with Burnett, prompting him to set a must-appear status hearing. Burnett then reached out to McKelvey and has been in contact with him since, McKelvey said, but an in-person meeting Monday morning with Burnett gave him "some concerns about going forward" with the case.

After his not-guilty plea, Burnett's trial was originally scheduled for April 12, but it was later reset to May 10 because of continued criminal trial delays related to the COVID-19 pandemic.

The two dogs, Karma and Kru, have been in the care of the Cheyenne Animal Shelter since October. Shelter CEO Sue Castaneda said her biggest concern at the moment is the length of time the dogs have had to stay at the shelter, waiting in limbo for the case to be adjudicated.

"The longer they stay, the less adoptable they're gonna be, and they're very iffy right now," Castaneda said. "We are reaching out to two or three rescues to try to see if anyone would take them. But really, unless Roy gives them up, I can't do anything."

Now that the trial is postponed indefinitely, Castaneda said the shelter would push for a court hearing to get custody of the dogs.

When Karma and Kru were first taken into care, the shelter raised $3,000 online, Castaneda said. The money was used to help save the leg of one of Karma and Kru's puppies, which were seized by animal control in November.

The accusations

At 1:21 p.m. Oct. 10, the manager of a mobile home park located at 316 Central Ave. reported to the Laramie County Sheriff's Department that he'd discovered two dogs "that appeared to be in extreme malnutrition," according to court documents.

Cheyenne Police officers responded to the scene later that afternoon. After repeated attempts to contact Burnett, Cheyenne Fire Rescue was called in to open the mobile home door, and animal control was called for assistance with the dogs. When the door opened, both dogs appeared and tried to get outside, and an officer slipped leashes on both.

Three to four weeks prior to the dogs being discovered, a neighbor said she ran into Burnett while shopping and expressed concern about the dogs obviously losing weight. She said Burnett assured her they were "doing OK."

After being impounded Oct. 10, the dogs were given immediate care at the animal shelter. Medical examinations and the rate at which the dogs regained weight over the following days indicated there were no underlying medical conditions that contributed to the dogs' dehydration and starvation, a veterinarian said.

Both dogs had a history of being picked up for "dog at large," according to the shelter. Two previous pickups in May and October 2019 showed both at healthy weights and body conditions.

On Oct. 10, however, Karma, the female dog, weighed 24.4 pounds, less than half of the expected 52 pounds for dogs like her. Kru, the male dog, weighed 36.3 pounds, versus an average weight of 57 pounds for dogs like him. Both belong to a French mastiff breed known as Dogue de Bordeaux.

When contacted at his ex-wife's residence on Oct. 16, Burnett told an animal control officer he thought someone had tried to poison the dogs. He said he'd seen them two weeks prior and "they did not look like that." He said someone named "India" had been responsible for the dogs. Because Burnett couldn't provide India's last name or contact information, the animal control officer cited him for two misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty.

At an Oct. 21 meeting with the animal control officer, Burnett reasserted someone may have tried to poison the dogs. He said he loved the dogs and that they were like his kids. He said he had a job that required him to leave the state for two weeks at a time, and that he had paid India on several occasions to take care of the dogs. Burnett then provided a physical description of India.

Records for the business Burnett said he worked for could not be found. He also could not provide the officer with information about the bank his payments to India had supposedly gone through.

Later that day, the animal control officer met with Burnett's ex-wife at her workplace. The woman said she had last seen the dogs Sept. 23, and that she had petted the dogs "through a break in one of the windows" at the mobile home, which prevented her from seeing their bodies. She said Burnett had taken a large bag of dog food from her home that day, but she did not remember him going into the mobile home.

When asked if she knew someone named "India," the woman said she had given India $150 in cash in April to take care of the dogs, and that was the only time she had met with him. The woman said she had no other information about India, but he supposedly lived at the Stage Coach Motel.

When the animal control officer inquired about India at the motel, the manager and several residents said they'd never seen someone that matched his description. The manager of the mobile home park also said India was never a resident there, according to their records.

In addition to his Nov. 7 arrest for the two animal cruelty charges, Burnett was also arrested Nov. 19 by the Laramie County Sheriff's Department for failure to comply with bond conditions, which barred him from having any contact with animals. According to court documents, a Laramie County Animal Control officer received a call Nov. 14 that three puppies had been left outside in the cold at Burnett's ex-wife's residence. The officer went to the home and saw the puppies outside. He then made contact with Burnett, who was present, and told him the puppies could not be left out in the cold.

Burnett was released on bond Nov. 20, according to court documents.

A second petition by the state to revoke Burnett's bond was filed Jan. 14, saying he had again been in possession of dogs on Dec. 22. According to a probable cause affidavit, a business owner located near Burnett's home contacted animal control and reported an employee of his had seen a dog in a vehicle Burnett frequently drives.

On March 10, a condition was added to Burnett's bond that said he not be within 25 feet of any dog, with the exception of a police dog.

Hannah Black is the Wyoming Tribune Eagle's criminal justice reporter. She can be reached at hblack@wyomingnews.com or 307-633-3128. Follow her on Twitter at @hannahcblack.