Beverly Roberts, left, and Mary Alston on Dec. 13. (David Bagnaud/CBS News)
Her friend Mary Alston, 61, had also been found guilty of criminal trespassing and interfering with governmental operations by Wetumpka Municipal Judge Jeff Courtney.
The women were sentenced to two years of unsupervised probation, $100 in fines, plus court costs and 10 days in jail — the jail sentence was then suspended.
“I realize the gravity of the situation, but also appreciate the absurdity of it all,” Roberts told The Washington Post.
Roberts received a warning from county officials to stop feeding cats in downtown Wetumpka by the courthouse dumpster in March. Three months later, she and Alston were arrested in a wooded area away from the courthouse dumpster while they were discussing how to feed, trap and neuter cats to control the city’s feral cat population.
“A warning, an arrest, and a conviction all because maybe we were about to feed stray cats, and because we were solving a feral cat problem that the city couldn’t solve,” said Roberts.
Body-cam footage from the Wetumpka Police Department, obtained by Al.com, shows three police cars and officers arresting the women.
“I have never seen or heard of a case more absurd than this,” William Shashy, Roberts’s lawyer and a retired judge, told The Post. “I was a lawyer for 20 years and a judge for 21, and I’m completely disappointed and shocked at this judgment.”
Alston’s lawyer, Terry Luck, described the verdict as “a complete overreach of the city of Wetumpka.” He told The Post that the city’s claim that the women were promoting the cat population is “ignorant,” given that the women were doing the work the city had failed to do.
Both lawyers believe that the arrest and conviction were motivated in part because Roberts “has created noise in the city for animal rights” and “ruffled many feathers over the years,” said Shashy, who came out of retirement to fight the case for Roberts.
A few years ago, Roberts helped pass an ordinance that banned citizens from chaining their dogs outside without shelter. “I think when I made ruckus about the dogs, those in charge of the city saw me as a troublemaker,” she said.
Both lawyers are determined to appeal the conviction. “It doesn’t matter if there are enough funds. We will be filing the appeal in a day or two,” Shashy said.
It wasn’t Roberts’s first run-in with authorities over stray felines. In March, about three months before her arrest, county officials showed up at Roberts’s house and told her that people had complained about her feeding stray cats and that they were accusing her of being a nuisance and adding to the stray-cat problem in the city. Roberts was no longer allowed to feed and trap cats by the courthouse dumpsters downtown.
“That’s the most shocked I’ve ever been in my life,” she said. “The arrest and the conviction were shocking, but nothing affected me as much as county officials not understanding that I am helping them solve the very problem they are blaming me for.”
Roberts and Alston were both arrested on June 25 in a steep, wooded area that is close to downtown Wetumpka but away from the courthouse dumpsters.
On the morning of the arrest, there were two cats on Roberts’s mind. She knew she had to feed them and have them neutered as soon as possible, she said.
As she was thinking about the cats, Roberts received a call from Alston, who was already at the wooded area with food and traps for the cats. Then the line cut off. Roberts grew worried and immediately drove to find Alston, she said.
