Construction workers plead not guilty in baby birds’ deaths

Two construction workers pleaded not guilty Friday to animal cruelty and other charges related to the deaths of baby birds that fell from a tree that authorities say the men cut down in a Newport Beach neighborhood.

Stephen John Esser, 47, of Dana Point and David Roger Stanley, 40, of Downey could each face up to one year and six months in jail if convicted of misdemeanor counts of animal cruelty, unlawful possession and destruction of bird nests/eggs, unlawful taking of migratory nongame birds and harassing a bird or mammal.

Jeremy Goldman, a lawyer representing Esser and Stanley, entered the plea on their behalf in Orange County Superior Court. Goldman declined to discuss the case after the hearing.

Prosecutors allege that Esser and Stanley were doing demolition work on a lot in the 1500 block of East Balboa Boulevard on May 28 when they used a backhoe or similar equipment to remove a ficus tree.

The tree contained eight or nine nests of snowy egrets and black-crowned night herons holding baby birds that weren’t yet able to fly, according to prosecutors.

Authorities believe about a dozen birds fell from the tree; five did not survive.

The incident outraged neighbors who said they pleaded with the workers to stop cutting down the tree.

Bystanders rescued most of the nestlings from the debris and took them to the Wetlands & Wildlife Care Center in Huntington Beach, where they were rehabilitated, according to authorities.

Prosecutors said Esser and Stanley could be required to pay about $20,000 for the birds’ care at the center.

The defendants’ next court date is scheduled for February.