GRAND SALINE, TX — Dust was still settling on the dirt driveway when the line of law enforcement cruisers and unmarked box trucks pulled up to Justin Hart’s farm. For generations, the morning sound around here was the steady crowing of prize game fowl. But on this morning, the birds were cut short by the slam of car doors and the heavy presence of deputies and SPCA of Texas investigators.
What was framed to the public as a high-stakes cockfighting raid was, under the surface, something much more complicated and personal.
Just seven days earlier, Justin’s brother, Shelby Herron, had fired off a formal demand letter to Van Zandt County and the SPCA of Texas. The letter called out what the family maintained was the outright theft of dogs over in neighboring Kaufman County. A week later, SPCA officers were on Justin’s property, hauling off 181 of his prize birds.
The raid quickly turned into a free-for-all. Officers grabbed items that weren't listed anywhere on the warrant. The birds healthy, valuable breeding stock were crammed into tiny cat carriers and stacked inside the back of a hot box truck like cargo.
Leading the charge on-scene were SPCA investigator Randi Dykes and Chief Investigator Courtney Burns. But as cameras snapped photos of the operation, major legal red flags started popping up. Photos captured Chief Burns directly handling and sorting through items on the evidence table. The problem? Burns’ legal authority belongs strictly in Hunt County. Under Texas law, humane society officers aren't free-roaming law enforcement; their authority is tied directly to local Memorandums of Understanding (MOUs). Burns had zero legal jurisdiction to touch evidence in Van Zandt County.
Making matters worse, Van Zandt’s actual MOU only authorized a single SPCA officer: Jason Taylor. And Taylor was already facing heavy fire for allegedly deleting evidence in another high-profile local case (Hayley Hull v. State of Texas).
Both Burns and Dykes were already walking into this under a cloud of federal litigation. The two are named defendants in a federal civil rights lawsuit (Case No. 3:26-cv-2346-K-BT) accusing them of lying on sworn affidavits, hiding evidence that clears property owners, and using high-profile animal seizures to fuel donation campaigns a direct hit against constitutional due process. When questioned about Dykes' actions, Van Zandt County tried to claim she had "gone rogue" and that they weren't responsible for her. Yet, they turned right around and used her to execute the raid on Hart's farm.
When the civil hearing arrived, District Attorney Tonda Curry took one look at the case file, the chain of custody photos, and the jurisdictional mess, and called a stop to it.
Standing in front of the judge, DA Curry didn't try to cover for the botched raid. She did her job. She asked the judge to dismiss the entire case on the spot, citing an illegal search and seizure and zero evidence linking the birds to illegal cockfighting. The judge agreed and ordered every single bird returned to Hart immediately.
Local news outlets wasted no time attacking the DA, claiming she threw the county under the bus. But protecting citizens from unlawful government overreach isn't throwing anyone under the bus it's upholding the oath of office.
The SPCA had put out press releases right after the raid boasting that the birds were in "great health" in their care. But when the box truck pulled back onto Hart’s property ten days later, the truth was obvious. The birds were unloaded covered in their own waste, stressed, and in rough shape after a week and a half in crowded crates.
How 181 birds go from "great health" to completely degraded in ten days of non-profit care is a question the SPCA hasn't answered.
Today, the birds are back in Justin Hart’s coops, recovering under his care. While the United K9 Accountability Team originally built its reputation fighting for dogs, this case proved that accountability doesn't stop at one species. Every owner deserves due process, every officer must follow the law, and every story deserves to be heard.