An attorney representing a Pontiac woman charged with animal abandonment and cruelty in Macomb County filed a motion to disallow information from an Oakland County case that is currently pending to be used as evidence against his client.

At a June 25 hearing, Macomb County Circuit Court Judge Julie Gatti granted the motion filed by William Branch, who represents Karmen Schooly. Schooly was charged with a felony for failing to provide adequate care to 25 or more animals and a misdemeanor for operating an illegal animal shelter in Oakland County.

Branch said prosecuting attorneys often use evidence from other cases in effort to show a pattern of behavior.

“In this case, the charges in Oakland County are really unrelated to the situation in Macomb County so I filed a motion to exclude evidence connected to the Oakland County case,” said Branch.

Gatti said the order may be reconsidered subject to trial evidence.

The charges brought against Schooly in Macomb County stem from a case involving six puppies from the Pontiac-based TriCounty Dog Rescue that were fostered by Alicia Coleman of Lenox Township in 2023.

Two of the puppies were ill and when Coleman took the animals to her own veterinarian, the animals were diagnosed with canine parvovirus, a highly contagious disease which attacks white blood cells and the gastrointestinal tract. If left untreated, it causes vomiting, diarrhea, dehydration, damage to the intestines and immune system, and death.

Coleman testified in the 42-2 New Baltimore District Court that Schooly refused to pay for any veterinary services for the puppies and that she would not allow Coleman to return the dogs to TriCounty Rescue. Coleman said Schooly provided her with several medications, many of them expired, that were not appropriate for treatment of parvovirus.

The two puppies were treated and recovered, and one of the seven puppies was later adopted. Coleman testified she tried to return the remaining six puppies to Schooly, but was told the animals could not be taken back. Coleman later took them to Macomb County Animal Control.

That agency took Schooly to court seeking reimbursement for the dogs’ care and in January 2024, Judge William Hackel III ruled she owed the county $70,255. Because she couldn’t pay the bill, the dogs were turned over to the county. Each was adopted after spending more than a year at Macomb County Animal Control.

Schooly’s trial, which was originally scheduled for Aug. 5, was pushed back three weeks to Aug. 27.

At the June 25 hearing, assistant Macomb County prosecuting attorney Lisa Lozen again offered a plea deal to Schooly, which the defendant again declined. The plea agreement was first offered at an April hearing.

The deal would allow Schooly to plead guilty to one felony count of animal cruelty/abandonment and serve 11 months probation. She would also serve two years probation on a misdemeanor charge of operating an unlicensed animal shelter.

Schooly is also charged with one felony count of unauthorized practice as a veterinarian/ health professional, which would be dismissed with the plea agreement.

As part of the plea agreement, Schooly would not be allowed to own any animals not licensed by Oakland County where she resides and would be subject to random inspections by Oakland County Animal Control.

Judge Gatti said if Schooly accepted the plea agreement, which Lozen said would be on the table until the trial, she would be willing to allow Schooly to make monthly payments toward the $70,255 during her probation as opposed to paying one lump sum.