VA Woman Avoids Animal Cruelty Trial As Judge Nullifies Search Warrant

FAUQUIER COUNTY, VA — A Virginia woman indicted on animal cruelty charges in 2020 will not be going to trial in Fauquier County this month after a circuit court judge ruled evidence obtained during a search of the kennel on her property was inadmissible.

Irina Barrett of Fauquier County was arrested in January 2020 and was later indicted on five animal cruelty charges. An animal cruelty investigation led Fauquier County Animal Control deputies to Barrett’s property in January 2020, where officers found more than 70 dogs — mostly Doberman pinchers and French bulldogs — that authorities said were suffering from neglect.

On Aug. 30, Circuit Court Judge James Plowman ruled in favor of a motion filed by Barrett’s attorneys to suppress the evidence gathered during the search. Plowman ruled the search warrant used to gather evidence in the case was improperly obtained.

Barrett’s criminal trial was scheduled to begin Sept. 27, but was taken off the court’s calendar after the Fauquier County Commonwealth’s Attorney office appealed the judge's decision to the Virginia Court of Appeals.

Plowman’s decision came more than a year after a hearing to argue the merits of Barrett’s motion to suppress the search warrant.

Barrett’s attorneys welcomed the judge’s decision to suppress the search warrant.

“We are pleased with the Court’s finding that the Commonwealth acted illegally when it violated Ms. Barrett’s constitutional rights,” Barrett’s attorney, Trey Mayfield, said in a statement emailed to Patch Tuesday. “The warrant used to invade her property was illegal, because it did not set forth evidence of any crime.”

Barrett also is facing civil charges related to the seizure of the animals from her kennel. Parties in the case agreed that the civil case would be stayed until the criminal case was resolved, because, depending on the outcome of the criminal case, many, if not all, of the issues in the civil case might be resolved.

Plowman’s Aug. 30 decision matched a ruling issued by a judge in March 2020 that suppressed the warrant to search Barrett’s property. The commonwealth’s attorney office was then forced to drop the charges. But another judge overturned the ruling, and the charges against Barrett were reinstated in August 2020.

Prosecutors argued that Plowman did not have the legal authority to reconsider the judge’s ruling from August 2020. Since the judge ruled already the search warrant was valid, the same court could not reconsider Barrett’s attempt to have the search warrant thrown out, prosecutors said.

But Plowman ruled that since the judge’s August 2020 ruling did not apply to both the criminal and civil cases, he could issue his own decision on the search warrant’s validity, the Fauquier Times reported Tuesday.

“The reason there was no evidence of a crime is because no crime was ever committed by Ms. Barrett,” Mayfield said in the statement. “Like any responsible dog owner, Ms. Barrett takes her animals to the veterinarian when they are in need of medical attention, which is precisely what happened in this case.”

Two judges in Fauquier County have now determined that government officials acted unlawfully in bringing the case against Barrett, Mayfield noted.

“The Commonwealth Attorney’s Office should admit it made a mistake, stop wasting taxpayer funds on this baseless case, and turn its attention back to prosecuting actual crimes instead of tearing down the reputations of innocent people,” he said.

RELATED: 70 Mistreated Dogs Removed From Fauquier Property: Police