(ABC 6 News) – The owners of a LeRoy dog breeding farm, charged earlier this year with several counts of animal mistreatment, appeared in court for a pre-trial hearing where they both withdrew petitions to plead guilty, sending the case to trial early next year.

In August, ABC 6 reported the defendants, Donald Anderson and Elham Alayyoub, had entered petitions to plead guilty using Alford pleas, a type of guilty plea that asserts innocence while admitting there was likely enough evidence to convict.

However, those petitions were not actually Anderson and Alayyoub pleading guilty, but rather a precautionary measure ahead of the pre-trial.

The confusion comes down to how the court handles virtual hearings, which this pre-trial was.

Normally, when a hearing takes place and everyone is present in court, the necessary documents to file petitions are filled, signed, and submitted to the court day of.

However, when hearings are done virtually, everything has to be submitted ahead of time in case the defense decides to take that course of action but wouldn’t be able to get the petitions signed and submitted to the court in person.

Now, the case will be heading to trial in early 2025.

A settlement conference is scheduled for January 17, while the first day of trial is set for February 10.

The defense’s attorneys stated they needed the extra time to bring in expert witnesses that they had not yet identified.