Nyal Barton Piper, 82, and Renee Lynn Piper, 63, were scheduled for jury selection Tuesday morning at the Bedford County Courthouse, with their joint jury trial set to begin Monday.

Instead, the Pipers each pleaded no contest to 20 felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals – torture, 20 misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals and 10 summary counts of failure to keep dog license. The remaining charges were dismissed.

The Pipers had each been charged with 99 felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals – torture, eight felony counts of aggravated cruelty to animals – causing serious bodily injury or death, 198 misdemeanor counts of neglect of animals, 99 misdemeanor counts of cruelty to animals and 81 summary counts of failure to keep dog licenses.

With the plea, they left their sentences open to the court, meaning their sentence will be at President Judge Travis Livengood’s discretion. Livengood explained to the couple that by entering a no contest plea, they are not agreeing to the prosecution’s version of events, but do concede that a jury could find them guilty.

Renee Piper

“It is a conviction,” Livengood said.

The maximum sentence on each felony count is seven years, while the maximum sentence on each misdemeanor count is two years, which Livengood could order to be served consecutively or concurrently. Each summary count carries a maximum sentence of 90 days. The longest possible sentence the Pipers could receive is about 183 years in prison.

Livengood told the Pipers that if they went through with the plea agreement, they would be unable to appeal any of the court’s previous decisions, such as its denials to dismiss the case and motions to have a jury trial outside Bedford County, to which they said they understood.

The plea agreement was discussed with the police officers who responded to the scene, according to Bedford County District Attorney Ashlan Clark, and “they were agreeable to it.”

However, due to the severity of the case and “the impact on the community,” Clark said she didn’t believe “the Humane Society would be agreeable to any plea.”

Livengood accepted the agreement and set sentencing for 1:30 p.m. Sept. 26.

The couple were charged in March 2024 after 90 dogs, eight cats and one turtle were recovered from their Bedford Township home on New Year’s Eve 2023. Three dead animals were discovered within the residence, while a veterinarian needed to euthanize four dogs on scene and one dog at the Bedford County Humane Society.

State police at Bedford were tipped off to the conditions of the animals by a pet hospital employee from Maryland, who contacted them regarding six of the Pipers’ dogs. The employee said the dogs were underweight and covered in feces and urine when she came into contact with them at the vet’s office.

At the Piper residence, Nyal gave officers permission to search the home. Inside, officers saw cages containing dogs and cats stacked floor to ceiling, with all animals covered in feces and urine. Feces also covered the cages and the floor of the residence.

Officers noted there was no clean food or water provided or accessible to any of the animals, and that all water observed was dirty and brown. Documents from the Bedford County Treasurer’s Office indicated that only nine dogs out of the 90 were licensed.

The Pipers had their bails of $1 million each reduced to $250,000 each on March 27, 2024. Nyal was released from the Bedford County Correctional Facility on April 1, 2024, while Renee was released on April 4, 2024, after professional bail bondsmen posted their respective bails.