4 P.M. UPDATE: ABC57's Annie Kate spoke with South Bend cat rescue Meow Mission's President Jodi Aker about the peaceful protest that took place outside the Elkhart County Prosecutor's Office Wednesday, and the statement release by the ECPO just after the protest ended.

Statement from Aker:

"We feel like we just took bullets from Vicky Becker today. Within 15 minutes of our peaceful protest ending, her office hits ‘send’ on a media release that basically gives people permission to kill cats and get away with it by saying they destroyed something.

Becker’s office had four months to investigate before choosing to charge these three men with felony animal cruelty charges. A day later, Jayco RV refuted the validity of one statement in the police report, and charges were quickly dropped.

Becker’s office accuses social media of “opining and premature conclusions,” calling the public outcry, a “social media frenzy that is wholly inappropriate.” She places this harsh judgement on her own constituents’ outcry instead of committing to seek justice for these two cats who were admittedly crushed in a trash compactor at work by these three men.

Then today, only three business days later, a long and such detailed release on why charges will not be refiled due to additional evidence and an exception to Indiana law. It just doesn’t add up and makes us wonder what was really going on behind the scenes.

The Elkhart County Prosector failed these two cats today, put all living cats in Elkhart County and beyond in grave danger with the precedence the decision sets, and is a slap in the face to her constituents and all of us who dedicate our lives to the protection of animals. If these cats’ lives are not valued or protected in the state of Indiana, then what others will not?

ORIGINAL: ELKHART COUNTY, Ind. -- The Elkhart County Prosecutor's Office released more details on its decision to drop charges against three men who admitted to putting live cats in a trash compactor at the Jayco RV Manufacturing facility in Middlebury back in February.

"Over the week before the destruction of the cats, attempts had been made to find homes for the cats and to relocate one of the cats, which traveled approximately ten miles to come back to the business property."

The statement goes on to say an exception to the law prohibiting the abuse of a vertebrate animal exists when the animal that is destroyed is "endangering, harassing, or threatening livestock or a domestic animal, or destroying or damaging a person’s property (Indiana Code 35-46-3-5(a)(10)).

The prosecutor's office says there is no documented evidence that suggests any of the three men, "engaged in the behavior with the intent to cause suffering or prolonged physical pain to the cats involved."

"The individuals responsible for resolving the matter made the choice to destroy the cats using a compactor that caused death within a few seconds of the physical injury that was inflicted," the prosecutor's office said.

"Each of the individuals, as well as the business that employed them, were cooperative and honest during the investigation."

The Elkhart County Prosecutor's Office released its statement roughly 15 minutes after a planned protest took place outside its office on Wednesday.

"A person’s conduct, no matter how offensive or objectionable it may be, will only be actionable under criminal law where there is specific authority granted to the state, by its legislature, to hold a person accountable," the statement reads. 

"Prosecutorial decisions regarding formal charges may not be emotionally driven, nor be inconsistent with the intent of the legislature."

The statement concludes stating, "Accordingly, as the cats causing damage to property that are the subject of this case were, by definition, vertebrate animals like a mouse, a rat, a raccoon, or an opossum, and were destroyed in a manner that did not prolong suffering beyond that which is permitted by law, no criminal charges will be filed in this matter."