Farmer Roy Hoffman didn't do enough to keep his cattle from getting stuck up to their necks in mud, ultimately causing their death, a Franklin County judge ruled today.

“This situation could have been handled dramatically different and should have been handled dramatically different,” the Environmental Court Judge Harland Hale said.

He found Hoffman guilty of four counts of depriving “necessary sustenance” for two bulls and two heifers that died on his farm at 658 Hilliard-Rome Rd. The Capital Area Humane Society removed the dead animals March 18, 2005.

Hale took an hour to return with a decision, calling the case “extraordinarily difficult.” The farm's proximity to the city made it more likely that passers-by would notice the dead cattle, he said.

“Under ordinary circumstances, on a large farm ... you'd never discover this,” Hale said.

Hoffman and his attorney, Robert Cesner Jr., had no comment after the ruling.

Hoffman, a member of the Franklin County

Agricultural Society board and former county fair secretary, will be sentenced Sept. 26 after a pre-sentence investigation into his background.

Each charge carries a maximum $750 fine and/or 90 days in jail. He also could be prohibited from owning livestock.

However, the prosecution did not prove Hoffman acted recklessly under the “unusually adverse weather conditions,” Cesner said during closing arguments.

Both sides agreed the cattle became stuck in mud after heavy winter rains.

Rather, Cesner said, the Hoffman family took “extraordinary measures” to protect the cattle by rotating the location of the food and taking grain to animals stuck in the mud, as Hoffman's son, Mike, has testified. Mike Hoffman said he has fed the animals every day since 1991.

Witnesses called by Assistant City Prosecutor Robert Tobias did not provide evidence that Hoffman should be charged, Cesner said. He pointed to Ohio State University animal pathologist Dr. Laura Rush, who said she could not determine a cause of death from necropsies performed on the animals.

Rush testified Tuesday that the deaths may have been caused by “inadequate nutrition for some time.” That, Cesner said, means it was only a possible cause for the deaths.

Hoffman originally faced six counts of animal cruelty, but Hale refused to admit medical records Wednesday that supported two charges related to animals that were taken from the farm alive.

bkress@dispatch.com