Judge Postpones Painted Pastures Trial After Star Witness is Indicted on Federal Charges

A bench trial involving the owner of a animal sanctuary was postponed Monday morning after the defense learned that a key witness—a Cook County sheriff’s police official—was recently indicted on federal extortion charges.

Larry Draus, a 35-year officer , owner of , was charged in federal court March 13 along with his son, Lawrence E. “Eric” Draus. The charges are not related to the local animal cruelty case.

Hamill's defense attorney Purav Bhatt was expected to call witnesses when the trial resumed Monday. But in light of Draus' arrest, he instead asked for a continuance so he can file several motions "addressing the search warrants and evidence" that he declined to specify further.

Cook County State's Attorney's office spokesman Andy Conklin said he believes Bhatt wants to file a motion to dismiss the charges against Hamill, which include more than 30 centered on animal cruelty and neglect. They stem from February 2011, when sheriff's deputies  from her unincorporated property, .

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Her trial began earlier this month, when prosecutors called six witnesses in front of Cook County Judge Christopher J. Donnelly. Among them was Draus, who was on the Cook County animal crimes unit.

But Draus and his son were reportedly snared last week in a federal sting centered on contraband tobacco trafficking.

"The state's attorney was required to inform us of those charges and they didn't," Bhatt said after court Monday. "Officer Draus should have made us aware of this. But every time he's taken the stand in this case, his credibility has come into question."

The complaint states that on Jan. 30, the older Larry Draus accepted from a federal informant a $10,000 cash payoff that was disguised in a newspaper and passed to him under a restaurant table, according to a March 16 report in the Chicago Tribune.

The informant, posing as a trafficker for contraband cigarettes, was from the U.S. Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives. He asked that Draus "scare off," a man hovering around the illegal operation, according to reports.

The younger Draus was allegedly extorting money from the same informant with promises that his father would prevent police from busting the warehouse, the Tribune reports. He's also accused of purchasing thousands of cigarettes from the informant, officials said Monday.

, prosecutors' witnesses described finding on her property a dead cat, a dead miniature horse and eight sickly puppies in an unheated garage and food and bodies matted with urine and feces.

Bhatt called Draus’ handling of the case “sloppy,” showing, in one instance, how a food bowl which Draus' report said didn’t exist in the dead cat’s cage could be seen in the officer’s own video.

In another instance, he asked Draus how the puppies could have been energetic-looking and sickly at the same time—to which Draus smirked and said, “They were very happy to see us.”

Conklin said the trial is set to resume April 2. The state will use the time to address the indictment against Draus, he said.

Asked whether the state is concerned that Draus' arrest will affect the integrity of the case, Conklin declined to answer.

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