By MELISSA N. WARREN / Review Appeal Staff Reporter

Day five of dog breeder Jennifer Siliski’s animal cruelty trial was punctuated with outright laughter from the jury as her former employee recounted experiences at Siliski’s Franklin home kennel.

“I told her that I’m not going to go around looking at dogs’ privates,” said Julie Burnham, the kennel worker who was employed by Siliski until a week before this year’s Jan. 22 raid on the kennel. “She would get upset because they weren’t breeding enough for her ... but I told her I didn’t have time to hold the dogs upside down for 20 minutes.”

While Burnham’s facial expressions and attempt at delicacy regarding the animals’ mating processes were humorous, her other claims were very serious.

“She had me hold down a puppy while she tattooed the eyelids, but that only lasted a minute because I couldn’t take it,” the witness said. “Puppies aren’t born with their pigments filled in, so she wanted to fill them in to make the puppies look older. ... Apparently she had been selling the dogs too early.”

While there was previous testimony by Animal Control Officer Valerie Clarke and the defendant’s fourth ex-husband, Alan Siliski, as well as later testimony by another local breeder named Margie Largin, it was Burnham who seemed to leave the most lasting impression on jurors. She commented on the conditions of the kennels, describing them to be in such bad shape that she could not keep each cage entirely clean while still fulfilling her other duties — feeding, watering, grooming and exercising some 200 dogs.

“I took them out one day into the back yard to try and clean them,” she told defense attorney Kenneth J. Sanney when he asked why there was matted hair and feces on the edges of the cages. “You know how many I got done in eight hours? Six.”

Burnham also said she would not have been surprised if Siliski threw a deformed puppy away — allegations listed on the district attorney’s indictment for two puppies, although the puppies in those counts were never recovered as evidence. In an effort to absolve his client from those charges, Sanney asked Burnham if the kennel housed any dog with a missing limb, and she admitted to seeing a few.

“Did you have a nickname for Ms. Siliski?” Sanney asked.

“Jackass Jennie,” Burnham said without a flinch. Sanney probed further as to whether “Lunatic Psycho Sybil B...h” was another nickname, or if Burnham had called the defendant any variation of that.

“Nope,” she said. “Just ‘Jackass Jennie.’”

During cross examination, Deputy District Attorney Derek Smith asked Burnham if she had ever witnessed direct abuse from Siliski toward the dogs.

“No, not kicking or hitting, but she was cutting on a dog (for grooming) and she just laid it right open down the belly about that long,” Burnham said, indicating a 2-inch space with her fingers. “There was no vet open, so she glued it shut with (medical) glue. ... The next day, she said there was no blood, but when I went to pick it up, the dog was laid wide open again.”

Siliski scribbled several Post-it notes to her attorneys during Burnham’s testimony — a tactic that resulted in a colorful array of the small squares on the end of the defense table. Despite her fervent defense, Siliski did laugh when Burnham said “no offense” for the “Jackass Jennie” comment.

Court lasted until approximately 8:30 p.m.

Staff Reporter Melissa N. Warren can be contacted at melissa@reviewappeal.com.

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