ST. GEORGE — Two men who filmed themselves breaking into a Beaver County pig farm more than five years ago have been found not guilty of burglary and theft charges.

After deliberating for more than seven hours on Saturday, an eight-member jury in St. George returned an unanimous verdict of not guilty on all charges, thereby clearing co-defendants Wayne Hsiung and Paul Picklesimer.

The weeklong trial attracted statewide and national media attention, due primarily to the involvement of animal rights activist group Direct Action Everywhere, which uses the abbreviation DxE. 

Picklesimer and Hsiung were admittedly part of a group of five activists who entered the Smithfield Foods facility known as Circle Four Farms in Milford on the night of March 7, 2017. During their self-described “rescue mission,” the group ended up removing two piglets from the site, claiming that both animals were sick and malnourished.

The trial, which wrapped up with a marathon session on Friday that lasted nearly 12 hours, took place in the St. George courtroom of 5th District Judge Jeffrey C. Wilcox. It had been moved to Washington County following concerns that an unbiased jury couldn’t be seated in Beaver County.

The jury, which consisted of five women and three men, returned its verdict shortly before 5 p.m. See the reading of the verdict and the reactions in the video above.

Hsiung, who acted as his own attorney throughout the trial, argued that he and the others hadn’t entered the buildings specifically intending to take any pigs; instead, they were there to document what he said were inhumane conditions at the facility, which at that time was reportedly the largest pig farm in the nation.

Additionally, Picklesimer’s attorney Mary Corporon argued that the young piglets were “worthless” to Smithfield, even having a negative value since providing them with the necessary medical care would have cost the company more than the value of the pigs. A figure of $42.20 per animal had previously been cited by prosecution witnesses, although that dollar amount reportedly referred to weaned piglets of a certain weight, a developmental stage that the two piglets in question had not yet attained.

Additionally, Corporon told the jury that as the group’s designated videographer, Picklesimer didn’t pick up or handle any pigs because he was operating the virtual-reality camera equipment used to document the incident.

The piglets in question, which the defense repeatedly referred to by the names Lily and Lizzie, responded favorably to medical intervention and are now healthy fully grown sows, DxE members told St. George News.

Outside the courthouse Saturday, supporters were seen throughout the day waiting anxiously for the verdict. Their mood on the courthouse steps after the verdict was announced immediately changed to one of exuberance.

On the courthouse front steps after the verdict was read, Hsiung told St. George News:

“These jurors saw through all the tricks and shenanigans efforts to gag us. And I think they saw the very true and basic story that Rick Pitman told at trial, that there is a difference between stealing an animal and rescuing someone who needs some help. They’re just not the same thing. And that’s all we did. There was no testimony in this trial, not even a word, that suggests that we did this to obtain any commercial gain, or try or even to take anything commercially from the farm.”

Pitman, a Utah turkey farmer, had been one of the defense’s witnesses, testifying of previous favorable interactions he’d had with the activists and noting that he had “pardoned” numerous sick or injured birds to be rescued and adopted by the group.

“I think this … panel of jurors recognize that indisputable fact,” Hsiung added. “And in many ways, you know, establish a right to rescue not just for the two of us, but for anyone who sees a suffering animal.”

Corporon then added, “There is a reason that our founders gave us a jury system, which means you put people from the community in final judgment, not the king, not the king’s counselors, but your neighbors. And there’s something real pure about that system.”

Another defense witness was Andrew Scharo, who said he also participated in the break-in of March 7, 2017. Scharo admitted on the witness stand he was the other person besides Hsiung who had carried out a piglet from the facility. 

Although Scharo and two other participants had previously resolved their cases via plea agreements, Hsiung and Picklesimer chose instead to fight their charges in court.

Members of the prosecution team left the courtroom immediately following the verdict announcement and were not available for comment.

The proceedings began on Monday morning with the jury selection process, which ended just before lunchtime on Tuesday. The trial itself began Tuesday afternoon, with Beaver County Attorney Von Christiansen and Janise Macanas of the Utah Attorney General’s Office prosecuting the case.

Christiansen said during his opening statement that the case isn’t about Smithfield Foods or the conditions of its facility.

“It’s about the act of burglary and theft,” he said.

However, Hsiung then argued that the case was more about freedom of speech and what he called the “right to rescue.”

“Our intent was just to document the conditions,” Hsiung testified, adding that they only rescued the two piglets in question because they would have likely perished otherwise.

The state rested its case mid-afternoon Wednesday after prosecutors had called and questioned five witnesses, including two Smithfield Foods employees, Utah Department of Agriculture and Food state veterinarian Dean Taylor, FBI Special Agent Chris Andersen and Special Agent Matt Thompson of the Utah Attorney General’s Office.

Taylor and Smithfield Foods employee Richard Topham were both called back to the stand on Friday; however, their rebuttal testimony ended up being stricken from the record following a successful objection by the defense.

The issue there was the viability of the pigs in question and whether they and the other animals at the facility were being cared for properly.

Earlier in the trial, Sherstin Rosenberg, a California veterinarian who operates an animal rescue center, testified as an expert for the defense, saying she estimated that the two piglets, which were between 25-30% the size of their siblings, had only about 5% chance of survival.

Although the defense had argued that the full video of the rescue operation should be shown to the jurors, the judge didn’t allow it. However, some screenshot still images and short video snippets were admitted as evidence.

Afterward, Picklesimer said the state’s efforts to withhold the full video from being seen by the jurors appear to have backfired.

“For one, it makes the jury feel like they’re being treated like babies. They’re being spoon-fed some narrative and they can’t see the real truth,” Picklesimer said. “The other reason is that the footage exonerates us. The more you see, any idea of value goes out the window. All you would know is that there’s dumpsters full of baby piglets, just like Lily and Lizzie, dead on the floor.”

“The value argument, really we tried to hinge it on the evidence that we collected but we weren’t allowed to present that evidence,” he added. “So I think the jury felt betrayed by the prosecution for stopping the video from coming out and we felt hurt because we want to show the facts. We just want to be open and transparent about it. That’s our whole operation.”

Another development that occurred on Friday was the outright dismissal of one count of burglary for each defendant. That left each charged with one count of burglary, a third-degree felony and one count of theft under $500, a class B misdemeanor. But with Saturday’s acquittal, all remaining charges were removed.

As reported in St. George News earlier this week, dozens of people affiliated with the group gathered for protests and demonstrations throughout the week. Many gathered inside the Electric Theater down the street to watch each day’s proceedings live on the court’s WebEx streaming platform. During the week, group members also staged a caravan protest at Circle Four Farms in Milford and held up signs saying “Right to Rescue” and similar slogans along Tabernacle Street in St. George.

In a separate incident in San Francisco on Monday, another Direct Action Everywhere protester was apprehended after running out onto the field of an NFL Monday Night Football game carrying a smoke-emitting firework. The perpetrator, who was cited, said he did it to draw attention to the trial. He also reportedly later filed a complaint against the Los Angeles Rams player who tackled him on the field.

While cleared in Utah, Hsiung and Picklesimer still have another burglary case involving the taking of an animal, but in another state. 

According to the Wisconsin State Journal, they are two of the three defendants in a Dane County, Wisconsin, case where they are accused of taking three beagles in April 2017 — a month after the Circle Four Farms incident — from Ridglan Farms in Blue Mounds, Wisconsin, located west of Madison. The facility breeds dogs for medical research.

The case mirrors this week’s case in Southern Utah — The two filmed the taking of the animals and put it on the internet, the charges are burglary and they each face up to nine years in prison if convicted.

But outside court Saturday afternoon as supporters celebrated on the courthouse steps, Hsiung said the case this week in Washington County served as a precedent.

“If we can win here, Madison, Wisconsin, is going to be a piece of cake.”

Update Oct. 8, 9 p.m. Additional info including pending burglary case against defendants in Wisconsin.

St. George News reporter Chris Reed contributed to this coverage and story.

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