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Trial demanded for noisy-dog charges near Carbondale

John Colson
jcolson@postindependent.com

CARBONDALE — A resident of the unincorporated community of Satank has demanded a trial on charges that her dogs are a noisy nuisance, leveled by a neighbor who called the Garfield County Sheriff’s Office to complain in early August.

Jean Perry Wilfley was summoned to appear in court and, after talking with the Ninth Judicial District Attorney’s office, rejected an offer of a plea bargain.

“I don’t want to waste anyone’s time, or waste the resources [of the judicial system],” she said on Nov. 14.



But, she continued, “It’s not true, what was said about me was not true.”

And, she emphasized, she did not want to sign off on a plea bargain that would leave her with a conviction on her record.



“I want [the court] to know what the actual truth is,” she said. “I’m not going to sign something and pay a fine to make it go away.”

So, in Garfield County Court on Nov. 14, she invoked her right to a trial on the charges.

Judge Paul Metzger apparently suggested a trial was not necessary as the charge amounts to a petty offense, but Wilfley did not budge.

Informed that the complainant maintained that her dog was barking for more than an hour on the night in question, Wilfley maintained that the complainant was simply wrong.

“My dogs are the only ones in Satank that wear bark collars,” she maintained, claiming that the neighborhood around her is filled with dogs that bark all the time, and that her dogs are not among them.

Regarding the complaint as an implied accusation against the level of care she takes with her dogs, she continued, “I take offense when someone says I don’t treat my dogs well. They live better than I do!”

Her trial is set for early January in Garfield County Court.


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