McGrapth to Plead Guilty on Animal Cruelty Charges
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Xavier McGrapth, who faces second-degree animal cruelty charges in Bourbon County, Ky. has filed a motion to plead guilty.
McGrapth will enter his plea during a May 11 hearing at 1:30 p.m. ET before Judge Mary Jane Phelps in Bourbon County District Court, according to court documents.
"The defendant is of the opinion that this honorable Court can appropriately sentence him without the need for a jury or bench trial on his current charges," stated McGrapth's motion to plead guilty. He is represented by attorney Braxton Crenshaw. McGrapth's trial had been scheduled for May 12.
McGrapth's charges stem from the discovery March 19, 2021, by Bourbon County sheriff's deputies of nearly a dozen malnourished horses and two dead on a farm he leased off Brentsville Road outside Paris, Ky., for a boarding and training business he named Whispering Creek Thoroughbreds.
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McGrapth voluntarily went to the Bourbon County Sheriff's Office April 13 where he was interviewed and subsequently arrested. McGrapth initially pleaded not guilty to the charges and was released on a $2,000 bond.
Some owners of the horses had been hoping the case would go to trial and identify other people they said knew about the conditions of the horses but never reported anything.