Colbert County woman sentenced for animal cruelty

COLBERT COUNTY, Ala. ( WHNT ) — A Colbert County woman has been sentenced Tuesday after she was found guilty of nearly 40 counts of animal cruelty.

Debra Catledge was given a split sentence. She will serve nine years in prison and then will be on probation for 21 years. Her sentence also states she cannot own an animal.

Court documents show she entered a guilty plea for three counts of first-degree dog/cat cruelty, 17 counts of second-degree dog/cat cruelty, three charges of aggravated cruelty to animals, 12 counts of cruelty to animals and two counts of failure to bury livestock. Four counts were abandoned by the court to be considered in the sentencing.

On August 29, Catledge was found guilty of 37 counts of cruelty to animals. She was originally charged in September 2023 after investigators said they found 28 dead horses and the skeletal remains of several other horses on her property. Investigators also said they found several dead and malnourished dogs in their search of the property.

The case did have some controversy with the defense arguing that the original search warrant was obtained improperly obtained by a Colbert County animal control official, Corey Speegle, who was not a sworn law enforcement officer. The defense asked that evidence from that search be suppressed.

Colbert County Circuit Judge Mitchell D. Hays agreed with the defense that Speegle was not a law enforcement officer and was therefore not entitled to apply for a search warrant. However, the judge ruled that he would not suppress the evidence. The defense says the court’s ruling was based on the idea that the deputies who carried out the search operated in good faith and had no reason to believe the warrant was invalid.

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