NORTH COAST, Calif. – Mendocino County District Attorney David Eyster announced Monday that effective immediately he has directed all deputy prosecutors to file peremptory challenges to disqualify and prevent Superior Court Judge Clayton Brennan from hearing any pending criminal case or future cases that will be filed in which a defendant is charged with animal cruelty.

Likewise, the DA has also directed his deputy prosecutors to file peremptory challenges to disqualify and prevent Judge Brennan from hearing any criminal case in which the district attorney has alleged that the defendant personally used a firearm in the commission of a felony.

The announcement comes a few weeks after Brennan’s controversial decision in the case of “Thunder the Wonder Dog.”

Brennan allowed Thunder’s former owner, Katie Rhiannon Smith, 35, of Caspar, have her felony animal cruelty conviction reduced to a misdemeanor and to serve no jail time after she shot her dog in the woods in December 2019, as Lake County News has reported.

Eyster said he also will seek appellate review of Brennan’s decision in the Smith case.

California jurisprudence and statutory law allow district attorneys to refuse to accept a judge on a particular case or certain types of cases if it is believed that the judge is “so biased against the People that he or she cannot be entrusted with the fair administration of justice,” Eyster said.

In issuing his directive, Eyster continued, “The judge currently sitting in the Ten Mile Court in Fort Bragg has betrayed community standards and community trust. He has made it abundantly clear that he has no use for, does not value, and is biased against law enforcement and the community’s ongoing efforts to seek justice against those who victimize animals and use firearms to commit felonies.

“Accordingly, I deem him legally unfit to sit as a judge on the types of criminal cases described above,” said Eyster.

When asked if the peremptory challenges to Judge Brennan will occur only in cases involving animal cruelty or cases where it has been charged that the defendant has personally used a firearm, Eyster said the question of the scope and definition of cases for which Judge Brennan will be disqualified remains an open question being evaluated by the district attorney and his senior attorneys.