Last week we learned in court and afterwards in talking with Salt Lake District Court that Mikah Johnson's defense attorneys have made a motion to sever the seven animal cruelty charges and have them tried separately. This would mean there would be SEVEN SEPARATE TRIALS! There would be a different jury for each one. The defense argues this is necessary because if all the charges are heard by one jury they may be prejudiced and find him guilty of all of the charges instead of just one or two. They argue this would cause Mikah Johnson to suffer "undue prejudice." Having each charge heard separately could be an advantage to Johnson and would create a huge burden to the witnesses, prosecution, judge and court staff. We are hoping that the judge will not honor the defense's request to sever the charges. That will be what the court hearing is about on April 6, at 2 PM, Matheson Courthouse, 450 South State Street, Salt Lake City, UT. The room will be on the 4th floor in either room W-43 or S-41. The Honorable Judge Katherine Bernards-Goodman is presiding. We initially thought they were trying to sever the domestic violence charge but that is not the case. The defense has not expressed any preference about lumping the domestic violence charge with the animal cruelty charges. We received media coverage on Friday, March 11 on ABC 4 News Utah and on Monday on KSL 5 Utah. We have also heard there have been a few articles in newspapers and the National Examiner. We still need A LOT more signatures so please share our petition on social media with the hashtag #justiceformoose. One very generous supporter, Beth W. has donated hundreds of dollars to promote our petition on change.org and also made a huge donation in Moose's memory to a New Mexico animal sanctuary, Fur and Feather Animal Assistance. A big thank you to Beth W.! We have had many small success so far (namely Johnson being in custody). Johnson may remain in custody until the trial is over. Though the bail bond for $150,000 would only be around $15,000-$22,000, most bail bond companies would be hesitant to take the risk since Johnson already violated his bail conditions once, and he also lives out of state. Thank you again for all your support. If we work together and spread the word we can get #justiceformoose !