Some crimes are inexplicable. There's no understanding what benefits, legal or illegal, are gained by committing them.

Such is the case of the arrests recently in South Carolina of three family members on charges of animal cruelty. The arrests came when the state's Humane Society learned of 23 sorely neglected and half-starved horses in a Richland County pasture.

Although all 23 horses appeared to be in awful physical condition -- rail-thin and several seemingly suffering from skin ailments -- the cruelty charges related specifically to five horses. Four of them, according to authorities, were found shut up in dark stalls laden with urine and feces.

Facing animal cruelty charges are Hazelene Trexler, 70, and her two sons, Terry Trexler, 44, and James Trexler, 48. The latter is a public official; he was promptly and rightly suspended from his post as an assistant commissioner in the South Carolina Department of Agriculture.

The irony in this is sickeningly palpable.

Where is the sense in this crime? Unlike the cruel "sports" of dogfighting and cockfighting, which attract gamblers and sadistic-minded spectators, it's hard to see how people would benefit from mistreating horses. Are they just mean? Do they just enjoy making animals suffer?

Also inexplicable is that the horses were apparently illegally transported across state lines from a state-quarantined facility in Jefferson County, Ga.

Maybe when the three suspects go on trial, they can explain exactly what happened.

One would think, given his post in the Department of Agriculture, that James Trexler would have more compassion than most for farm animals. Yet, Humane Society officers dug up remains of at least nine horses on property formerly owned by him.

If found guilty, the assistant commissioner would deserve the maximum sentence the law allows -- not only because of a lack of compassion and inexplicable behavior, but also because he violated his public trust.