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Feb. 17, 2010
The lady is a champ - and a horse killer, too
By AMBER SUTHERLAND and KATE SHEEHY

She's known to Westminster Dog Show fans for her prized French bulldog -- and to the equine set for her heinous role in the slaying of a valuable horse for insurance money.

Marion Hulick, 75, proudly watched as her adorable canine, I'm On Fire, made history at the Madison Square Garden dog competition Monday night, becoming the first of his breed to score top honors in the Non-Sporting Group.
But some onlookers said they were sickened after realizing that Hulick is the former horse trainer who helped a low-life, animal hit man kill one of her charges in the Putnam Country town of Brewster 20 years ago at the behest of her boss, cellphone heir George Lindemann Jr.

"I guarantee that if Michael Vick walked into the Westminster Dog Show, he would be chased out. And yet, there's somebody famous for killing horses and everybody is smiling and clapping," said a former local groom, referring to NFL star Vick, who did time for running a dogfighting club.

Witnesses at Hulick's trial said she met with the killer, Tommy Burns, offering him a $35,000 cut of the $250,000 insurance money to kill the show animal, Charisma, on Dec. 15, 1990. She led Burns to the horse's stall, one witness recalled.

Burns then attached a metal clip to the horse's ear and another to his hindquarters and plugged a wire from them to an outlet, electrocuting him.
Hulick landed a 21-month sentence for her role. She served six months in federal prison. Burns and Lindemann also were convicted and served time,
Last night at the dog show, she called the whole ordeal "a mistake of a young person I was working for."

"It doesn't have anything to do with how I conduct my life. I love my dogs," said Hulick, who lives with her husband in Massachusetts, where she has a dozen French bulldogs -- and about a dozen retired show horses.