State v. Silver

Defendant was found guilty on multiple counts of animal abuse, based on his failure to provide minimally adequate care for his herd of alpacas. Those counts included a felony count (Count 1) and a misdemeanor count (Count 6) of first-degree animal abuse, both of which involved the failure to provide care for the same animal. On appeal, defendant argues, among other contentions, that the trial court erred by entering separate convictions on Counts 1 and 6 rather than merging the guilty verdicts for those counts into a single conviction.

The state concedes that the trial court erred in failing…