MENOMINEE - Sentencing of an Escanaba teen was postponed this week due to a medical emergency relating to the judge ruling in the animal torture case in Menominee.
Chad Meier Jr., 17, was scheduled to be sentenced as an adult Tuesday in Menominee County Probate Court. Earlier this year, he pleaded guilty to three felony counts of aiding and abetting in the torture of three cattle on a Wilson farm last summer.
Menominee County Probate Court Judge William Hupy, who has authority to rule in circuit court cases, was scheduled to sentence Meier at 2:30 p.m. Tuesday, but the judge postponed the proceeding due to a medical emergency, said a court official. The sentencing will be re-scheduled.
Meier was originally set to be sentenced three weeks ago on March 14. The judgment was postponed because Hupy was concerned about unresolved issues in the case.
Meier was one of three Escanaba teens involved in the beating of three purebred Angus cattle on the farm of Gary and Tammy Niarhos on July 17. Two pregnant heifers were so severely beaten they had to be euthanized. A bull survived but will never be used for breeding again.
Co-defendants Nicholas Michael Leisner, 18, and Peter John Sauve, 17, were arrested and lodged in jail the day after the incident. Each later pleaded guilty to three counts of animal torture and were sentenced in circuit court on Feb. 6 to spend two to four years in prison.
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Jenny Lancour, (906) 786-2021, ext. 143, jlancour@dailypress.net