Ingham County Animal Cruelty Investigator Jodi LeBombard conducted the interview with Thompson at the MSU Police Department’s headquarters — where the interview could be documented on camera — on June 22.

“She met him there on his own volition,” Ingham County Assistant Prosecutor Jeff Cruz said. “She conducted the interview there just to avoid the exact issue we are going through now.”

LeBombard, a deputy with Ingham County Animal Control, did not have the ability to arrest Thompson at the time and didn’t tell him that he was under arrest, according to her testimony.

LeBombard interviewed Thompson this past summer after complaints that Thompson had killed several dogs in his Berrytree Apartment, 4464 Janice Lee Drive, Apt. B2, throughout the past year, as well as three others in an East Lansing apartment sometime before.

Manderfield will review the video recording of Thompson’s interview before making her decision, but she said her preliminary response would be to rule the confession as admissible.

Even though Thompson was a primary suspect in this investigation, Michigan law does not require investigators to read him his Miranda rights if he is not formally arrested, Manderfield said.

“Certainly police aren’t required to Mirandize everyone they question,” she said.

The only dog found was an Italian Greyhound named Chloe, who was discovered upon investigating Thompson’s apartment. The dog was severely injured but was able to be rescued.

No other dogs were discovered, and no one has reported witnessing Thompson kill or abuse any of the animals.

Buchanan also motioned to remove charges against Thompson that originated in Mason’s 55th District Court on the grounds that the defense was not able to cross examine the testimony of Thompson’s roommate.

Thompson’s roommate told LeBombard that Thompson had as many as 10 dogs. LeBombard testified about this during a preliminary examination in the 55th District Court, but the roommate was not present at the hearing.

Buchanan said these counts should not be accepted because they were not brought to court by a primary source and hearsay evidence of this nature is not admissible.

“With all the animals, there was no evidence of their whereabouts other than my client’s statement,” she said.

Thompson’s friends and associates from the College of Osteopathic Medicine testified that Thompson’s dogs would disappear on a regular basis and he would replace it with another dog — either attempting to pass the new dog off as its predecessor or claiming the dog “kicked the bucket.”

Thompson is out on a $50,000 cash surety bond, has a curfew of 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. and is wearing a GPS tether while staying with a friend in Okemos.

Thompson’s trial is scheduled to begin Dec. 5.