During a hearing Tuesday afternoon, Blount County General Sessions Court Judge Robert Headrick found probable cause and sent the case against Stacy Gunter to Circuit Court.  Gunter is charged with aggravated cruelty to livestock animals and conspiracy to commit aggravated livestock cruelty.  Headrick said while the state had offered "tenuous proof" in the case, it was enough to show probable cause.

Prosecutors also presented evidence against farrier Blake Primm however Headrick did not find probable cause to send the case forward.  The charges were as a result of the raid on Wheelon Stables in April 2013.  During the hearing Tuesday, groom Terry Hughes invoked his Fifth Amendment right against self-incrimination and didn't answer questions from prosecutors.