SLIPPERY ROCK — A woman charged with animal cruelty refused to relinquish legal ownership of her pets to the Butler County Humane Society during a preliminary hearing Wednesday.

Sona M. Murphy, 41, of Worthington, Armstrong County, waived charges during the hearing. Murphy has no lawyer and appeared in court without legal aid.

She is charged with nine counts of cruelty to animals and six counts each of neglect of animals and failing to license the dogs.

Nicole Thurner, an attorney who does volunteer legal work for the humane society, tried to get Murphy to forfeit her ownership of six dogs and three cats that were found in January in an unoccupied trailer home in Prospect. But Murphy wouldn't sign the animals over.

Instead, she claimed to District Judge William S. O'Donnell that two of the animals were “support dogs.”

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