BREAKING NEWS, and I'm happy to report that Ashley DiFelice's next court hearing has FINALLY been scheduled! I've been searching non-stop for weeks for this info, but it's finally here: Thursday, February 22nd.
Here is a summary of her previous court appearances, at least as far back as when I was keeping track, but I believe I have been covering all of them since the beginning. Though I have copied and pasted the main points from the previous summaries below, you can also click on the dates to read the complete versions:
May 25th, 2023: Two things came out of this appearance. First, it was decided that the case would remain in municipal court instead of being tried at a higher court (municipal court is typically for disorderliness and misdemeanors and things like traffic tickets). We were hoping that this would be moved to a superior court, but the judge assigned to her case has previously been supportive of animals and their rights so it is possible that this case remaining in municipal court could possibly be a good thing. Second, her trial was delayed...again. We were all expecting this as this is a common tactic. Her lawyer, Bill Wackowski, stated that there was a "reciprocal discovery" that both sides needed to review. A reciprocal discovery is "a principle of criminal procedure that requires the defendant to give the prosecution copies of any pretrial statements that a defense witness gave during discovery."
July 14th, 2023: Not much happened regarding an outcome - the case was delayed again, BUT a new prosecution team was assigned to it. The Prosecutor said that her team wanted to take additional time to review everything which is most likely the reason for the most recent delay AND she made sure to state that they would be pressing for the "maximum penalty" for the 17 animal cruelty charges. While yet another delay was disappointing, the rest was good news! It sounds like the team is taking this seriously and wants justice. The judge also stated that if there is no outcome by the next date that the case will go to trial, mentioning that it has been almost a year. Her lawyer will most likely want to avoid a trial if at all possible, so this deadline is also good news!
September 14, 2023: Ashley's lawyer requested a postponement and unfortunately it was granted. There could be any number of reasons for this - he might have had a conflict with another case, he could've had a medical reason, Ashley or one of her children could've had a medical reason, possibly he hasn't been paid yet, or it could be a simple issue of some paperwork not being in order.
October 12, 2023: In a turn of events the Prosecutor Ekaterine Eleftheriou requested a delay so that additional charges could be filed against Ashley. This is good news! It wasn't stated how many charges would be filed on top of the 17 that she is currently facing or what those charges would be for, but Ms. Eleftheriou said that the additional charges that the state is seeking would be indictable and would be at a county level. This is more good news! Currently her case is being held in municipal court, which is the same court for traffic violations and other minor crimes. The Twist of Fate cruelty case and her fraud and child endangerment are definitely NOT minor crimes. (FYI, an indictable offense is "a crime that a prosecutor can charge by bringing evidence of the alleged crime to a grand jury. It is a crime for which a grand jury determines that there is enough evidence to charge a defendant with a felony.")
While most of her other court appearances were scheduled within a few days of her last appearance and for about 30-60 days later, her next court date was not even announced for another 3 months.
With her next date scheduled for February 22nd, I'm guessing that the judge still wants some sort of resolution to this matter since he had already mentioned this at previous appearances, though I'm not sure if the Feb 22nd date will resolve the animal cruelty charges and/or if additional charges will be filed at that time, and/or what those charges might be for. We'll just have to wait and see.
The above photo may appear to be an odd choice, but it is just one of the images of the inside of the house that Ashley and her son Deacon were living in at the time. These are the steps leading up to Deacon's bedroom, and those stains on the steps are dog urine. More animal waste was found in his bedroom and even on his bed. Next to the steps on the right are terracotta pots filled with dirt and the surrounding area is covered in dirt, dust, cobwebs, and other debris. There are several photos of the inside of their home in the original petition and I have included others here and there. This house of disgusting horrors, not to mention all of the dead animals rotting all over the property in open air are the conditions that a young child was living in. Deacon was around 7-9 at the time and had never been to school nor done any at-home schooling. This is illegal in all 50 states in the U.S, and in New Jersey where this case is taking place the compulsory ages for children to attend school are 6-16. So this can be added to Ashley's long list of crimes that include animal cruelty, donor fraud, tax fraud, theft, and child endangerment of Deacon's educational, physical, emotional and psychological well-being.
I considered attaching an entirely different image, such as the remains of one of the animals that she killed but instead decided not to - sometimes I prefer to limit the amount of death that I send to people's inboxes, and I've already done that so much because sadly this case has plenty of death. I have a lot of truly ugly, sad, and heartbreaking photos on my desktop and in my phone because of the deliberate actions of Ashley DiFelice - the numerous bones and parts of skeletons from animals that rotted right where they breathed their last breath (for most of them I can't even tell the animal's species or what part of them this was); the bare skull of a horse that had been tossed in a bucket (I don't even want to know); the image of the remains of a disabled goat, still attached to his wheelchair cart; the pile of the unidentified dead animals at the back of the property. These images are disturbing and traumatizing, but I truly hope that the prosecution has copies of them and every other horrific image captured from Ashley DiFelice's crime scenes.
I will of course post an update about the court appearance on the 22nd after it takes place to let you all know what happened, but until then I'll resume my posts about telling the stories of the Twist of Fate animals. I only have a handful left, so stay tuned!
Thank you so much.
- Haley