A shocking animal cruelty case against a former candidate for the West Virginia House of Delegates fell apart in court Friday.

Because a humane officer did not get a search warrant before seizing a starving horse in Kanawha County this summer, Judge Tod Kaufman's ruled Friday afternoon prosecutors could not use the animal or photos of a dead horse taken when the Arabian mare was seized as evidence.

The felony case against Clint Casto slated to go to trial Monday is over. Acting on a June complaint from a woman who had allegedly seen two starving horses, Humane Officer Johnny Brotherton found one of Casto's horses dead and another 400 pounds underweight with no food. Brotherton described an ugly scene at a pre-trial hearing Friday afternoon. The judge found that Brotherton had to travel so far on Casto's posted property to find the animals he needed a warrant.

Prosecutors argued unsuccessfully that the so called "open fields" exception used by police spotting marijuana from the air applied when the humane officer looked into the open sided barn-like shelter and saw the starving horse.