Jury acquits Florida animal broker of cruelty in horrific deaths of 15 monkeys
ROBERT MATSON CONYERS
4235 SW 143 CT
MIAMI FL 33175
Phone: (305) 456-6536
ROBERT CONYERS CUSTOM HOUSE BROKER LLC
Filing Information
Document Number L09000075690
FEI/EIN Number 260635690
Date Filed 08/06/2009
State FL
Status ACTIVE
Effective Date 08/06/2009
Last Event REINSTATEMENT
Event Date Filed 02/10/2011
Event Effective Date NONE
Principal Address
8288 NW SOUTH RIVER DR
MEDLEY FL 33166
Changed 02/10/2011
Mailing Address
4235 SW 143 CT
MIAMI FL 33175
Registered Agent Name & Address
CONYERS, ROBERT M
4235 SW 143 CT
MIAMI FL 33175 US
Manager/Member Detail
Name & Address
Title MGR
CONYERS, ROBERT M
4235 SW 143 CT
MIAMI FL 33175
Annual Reports
Report Year Filed Date
2010 02/10/2011
2011 02/10/2011
by Linda Deutsch (Miami Herald)
LOS ANGELES — A jury in Los Angeles acquitted a Florida animal broker Wednesday of 10 counts of animal cruelty in a case involving 15 monkeys that died after being shuttled around the world on international flights.
A spokesman for the city attorney‘s office said the jurors took less than an hour Wednesday to reach the verdicts acquitting Robert Matson Conyers of all charges.
The nearly two-week trial focused on a disastrous odyssey around the world in 2008 as the monkeys destined for a Bangkok breeding center were refused transit at several points, including China.
Conyers’ attorney, John Murray, argued that the broker was not responsible for what happened while the monkeys were being ferried around the world. They were well fed and cared for while in Conyers’ control, Murray said.
Murray said Conyers was relieved at the verdict.
“It’s been hanging over him for four years,” Murray said. “It has cost him thousands of dollars and has impacted his family life. A huge weight was lifted with the verdict.”
He said that Conyers’ acquittal will assure the continuation of his business.
“Ultimately, it didn’t impact his business,” he said. “His reputation is huge. People in Florida who import and export animals know that Conyers will move those animals as fast as he can and take care of the animals.”
Murray said Conyers was angry that of all the people who were involved in handling the monkeys, he was the only one charged.
“He was the only person in the chain of custody of the primates that did anything for the primates, and everybody was coming after him,” he said.
The monkeys suffered from neglect, starvation and hypothermia during the ordeal, and 15 of the 25 originally shipped from Guyana eventually died.
Prosecution and defense lawyers described a scenario in which everything that could go wrong did. The monkeys wound up on a circuitous seven-day trip across thousands of miles with stops in Miami and China, and twice in Los Angeles.
Julia MacKenzie, the West Coast coordinator for the advocacy group Stop Animal Cruelty Now, or SAEN, sat through the trial. She said she interviewed jurors after the verdict and they said Conyers was not to blame for what happened.
“They felt he tried to take care of them when he had them, and it wasn’t his fault,” she said.
Conyers took the stand in his own defense, MacKenzie said. He testified that he had adequately fed and watered the monkeys when he had them in his control in Miami between flights.
One airline refused to fly the animals because of poor weather, and Chinese authorities turned them back for improper documentation. Also, it was Chinese New Year when the monkeys arrived, and, with everyone on vacation, they languished on a tarmac for 39 hours.
Frank Mateljan of the city attorney’s office said: “The jury has rendered their opinion and certainly we’ll accept it. We take the tough cases when we feel they warrant criminal charges.”
Jurors where shown pictures of wide-eyed little monkeys peering up through a mesh screen in their crates.
“These are sad pictures, and it is a tough case,” Murray said in his opening statement.
MacKenzie said SAEN was disappointed because it saw the case as emblematic of the treatment of primates that are shipped by the thousands, with many going to the United States for laboratory use.
“The exploitation and cruelty is rampant,” she said. “We are all totally shocked by the verdict. We were convinced he would be found guilty.”
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6 Comments »
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April 6th, 2012 at 8:53 am
I am not an animal broker- I do not sell or buy animals- I have nothing to do with those activities. These were for a zoological display- they were NOT lab animals. I am simply a freight forwarder and US CUSTOMS BROKER. Before anyone does anything stupid read this- 2011 Florida Statutes CHAPTER 776.013
April 6th, 2012 at 9:57 am
I was not responsible for the deaths at Auschwitz. I just did the paperwork to load them onto rail cars. My life was turned upside down. My business ruined. Go after the real criminals. Poor me.
April 6th, 2012 at 10:43 am
You piece of shit, Conyers. You got DAMN lucky you were acquitted of negligent treatment and of killing those monkeys, because you are as GUILTY AS THEY GET AND WE ALL KNOW IT. I pray that you pay a heavy price for your evils against these innocent creatures and that you never comit another atrocity like this again in your lifetime. Selfishness and greed NEVER pay off in the long run. Go sell your “I’m innocent” bullshit to the rest of those who profit from the exploitation of animals, because those of us who know the truth, will never believe your lies.
April 7th, 2012 at 11:14 am
So you’re “simply a freight forwarder,” Conyers? Well that tells us what the problem is right there. You don’t think of any of the non-human animals you “forward” as living, feeling beings, entitled to the life they crave and are exquisitely evolved for. You are part of a chain of misery that causes these innocent, sentient beings total catastrophe. The fact that an ignorant jury bought your line of BS doesn’t mean everyone will. First OJ and now this. two LA juries that were clueless!
I hope the souls of these monkeys and every animal whose misery you have contributed to, torment you for eternity. While you are here, we will always be watching and we will expose the ugly truth about you to everyone you know. When anyone sees or hears you, the first thing they will think is that you are a cruel monster, willing to commit atrocities for blood money. And we will put you out of business!
April 8th, 2012 at 11:35 pm
Open letter to RM Conyers :
These will not be lines of rants, curses, or threats of eternal damnation
Not my style
This is merely to ask you to consider marketing artifacts, museum pieces, books, necessities or luxuries from this day forth, not live sentient beings
This is to ask that you let care and compassion trump pain and greed
The swapping, buying, selling, transporting of life is not an option for a human whose intelligence is recognized and whose soul is good
Brokering is a useful, honorable carreer, do not soil it with the torture and the blood of innocents
The Internet is replete with films evidencing the gratuitous sadism man perpetrates upon animals, under
the color of Science, Food, Clothing, Sport, Entertainment, Education, etc …
I ask that you view some of these videos, with an unbiased mind and open eyes . And please remember that the savagery you will see is not an exception or staged, it is The System .
And I ask that you join into the fight against that bloody system,
Zintkala Sapa
May 23rd, 2012 at 11:20 am
ANYONE THAT ABUSES ANIMALS OR HELPS IN ANYWAY WILL BE PUNISH BY GOD**THIS IS ONE SIN THAT GOD WILL NOT FORGIVE**THE 10 COMMANDMENTS DEALS WITH HOW YOU TREAT PEOPLE**BUT GOD DOES NOT FORGIVE CRUELTY TO ANIMALS! I HOPE YOU LOOSE EVERYTHING THAT IS PRECIOUS IN YOUR LIFE!