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Attorneys representing Humboldt County and three current or former officials asked a federal judge on Tuesday to dismiss the latest civil rights lawsuit from Arcata cattle rancher Raymond Christie.

The latest amended complaint in this legal saga, which originated late last year, includes accusations against the county, Sheriff William Honsal, former Livestock Deputy Travis Mendes (who’s now with CalFire) and former Deputy District Attorney Adrian Kamada (now with the county’s Public Defender’s Office).

In broad strokes, Christie alleges that Mendes fabricated and manipulated evidence to get him arrested, searched, and prosecuted for animal abuse in 2018. It further alleges that Honsal, Kamada and the county enabled this unjust persecution while ignoring similar conduct by other local ranchers.

Today’s motion, filed by Deputies County Counsel Joel Campbell-Blair and Destinee Valeska in U.S. District Court, asks Judge Noël Wise to dismiss all six claims in Christie’s Second Amended Complaint. The motion argues that this complaint “does not correct the defects” that led Judge Wise to dismiss the earlier version (with leave to amend) and notes that Christie “has had three attempts to present his claims.”

Christie has long faced allegations of animal cruelty. (See the links at the bottom of this post.) In suing the county and various officials, his attorneys argue that he’s simply a working rancher who buys sick and unwanted animals from other ranchers and nurses them back to health.

His latest complaint says Mendes targeted him after becoming livestock deputy in late 2017. It alleges Mendes staged photographs, altered image metadata, secretly recorded an interrogation and lied under oath. Christie was charged with felony animal abuse and misdemeanor carcass-disposal. A long and circuitous legal battle resulted in the felony charges being dismissed in December 2023.

In Tuesday’s filing, the county attorneys argue that claims regarding the March 2018 raid and Christie’s roughly 30-minute detention are barred by California’s two-year statute of limitations. 

Christie alleges officials retaliated against him for defending himself in an earlier cockfighting case, in which he was acquitted. The county says Mendes and Honsal had nothing to do with that case and points instead to repeated neighbor complaints about loose cattle and poor animal conditions as a more plausible motive for prosecution.

Christie’s case points to other instances of alleged animal abuse — namely, by Alexandre Family Farm and Miranda’s Rescue — to bolster his claim of selective and malicious prosecution. The county, in response, argues that prosecutors acted independently. It also says Christie’s new equal-protection claim was filed too late and in violation of the court’s prior dismissal order. 

The county also argues the original case against Christie did not actually end in his favor. Rather, it says, the 2023 dismissal of the felony counts was conditioned on his waiving an appeal of a misdemeanor conviction. Under California law, the motion says, a dismissal tied to a settlement is not considered a favorable termination.

As for the allegation of evidence fabrication, the county’s attorneys say Christie never alleges that the purportedly staged photos or altered metadata were presented at the preliminary hearing — or that they caused the charges to be filed or continued. And Honsal is not mentioned in that claim at all, they say.

Finally, they argue that Christie’s claims fail because they describe employees breaking county rules rather than following them: “Plaintiff does not allege that his injuries were caused by county policies, but by breaches of county policies,” meaning the county should not be held liable, the motion says.

Christie’s attorneys at Larson LLP have not yet filed a response. His complaint seeks compensatory and punitive damages and demands a jury trial. A hearing is set for Feb. 10, 2027.

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PREVIOUSLY

• (VIDEO) Drone Flight Reveals Mass Open Grave of Cattle Carcasses in Arcata Bottoms
• Cops Raid Notorious Ranch in the Arcata Bottoms; Rancher Ray Christie Arrested at the Scene
• More Than 250 Dead Cows Found on Ray Christie’s Properties, Says HCSO; Numerous Other Alleged Violations Discovered
• Humboldt-Del Norte Cattlemen’s Association Calls Ray Christie’s Ranch ‘Horrific,’ Says Anyone Convicted of Animal Abuse Should be Punished to the ‘Greatest Extent Possible’
• Judge Says Ray Christie, Arcata Rancher Accused of Animal Cruelty, Can Still Own Livestock For Now
• Rancher Ray Christie Held to Answer for Three Felony Charges of Animal Abuse; Four Charges Dropped After Investigating Deputy’s Testimony Was Compromised
• Judge Reverses Own Decision in Christie Animal Cruelty Case; Arraignment Set For Next Month
• Calling State Law ‘Unconstitutional,’ Attorneys for Rancher Ray Christie Ask Judge to Throw Out Case Involving Hundreds of Cattle Carcasses Found on His Land
• CHRISTIE TRIAL: Misconduct or Mistrial? One Juror Refuses to Deliberate or Follow the Law, Other Members Tell Judge; Unknown Whether a Mistrial Will be Declared or Possible Rogue Juror Replaced
• CHRISTIE TRIAL: Hung Jury Declared After One Juror Out of 12 Declines to Convict Accused Rancher
• RETRIAL: Following Hung Jury, Rancher Ray Christie Will be Retried on Four Felony Counts in February, Prosecutor Says
• Judge Denies Motion to Dismiss Felony Animal Cruelty Charges Against Arcata Rancher Ray Christie
• Rancher Ray Christie’s Attorney Asks For Yet Another New Trial On Top of His Client’s Already Impending Retrial
• Arcata Rancher Ray Christie Set to Face Second Animal Cruelty Charges in January
• Jurors in Ray Christie’s Second Trial Will Get to Hear About the Hundreds of Carcasses Found on His Properties, Judge Rules
• CHRISTIE CASE: Rancher Battling Cancer as Second Trial Looms
• Trial of Arcata Rancher Ray Christie Delayed Yet Again, as the Accused’s Medical Problems Worsen
• Majority Owners of Shuttered Redwood Meat Co. Sell Their Shares to Accused Animal Abuser Ray Christie
• Judge Says the Sale of Redwood Meat Co. to Ray Christie Did Not Violate Restraining Order
• Notorious Arcata Cattle Rancher Ray Christie Sues Humboldt County, Sheriff Honsal and Others, Alleging Civil Rights Violations