Officer Galante testified that on Jan. 26, 2015, as what was expected to be a historic blizzard bore down on New York City, he went to the lot beside the tire shop in response to numerous complaints from animal advocates.

“People were stating that there were rabbits in the back yard running around and they were attacking each other, and we went to investigate,” Officer Galante said.

He testified that his captain had told Ms. Trec that she needed to get the rabbits to a warm place and that she said she would. “You took responsibility for the rabbits,” he told Ms. Trec, who was cross-examining him. “When he asked you who the rabbits belonged to, you said, ‘Me.’”

Reverting back to the first person, she asked, “Was there noise on the street at that moment when the captain was speaking to me?”

“I don’t remember,” Officer Galante said.

That night, the police came back with employees from the American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and rounded up 72 of her rabbits. Prosecutors said the rabbits lacked shelter and were in danger because of the imminent snowstorm. Three days later, the authorities returned with a warrant and seized 104 more rabbits.

If found guilty, Ms. Trec faces a possibility of up to two years in jail.

On a break, Ms. Trec discussed her strategy. The first batch of rabbits was taken without a warrant. The city used the condition of those rabbits to get the warrant that led to the seizure of the second batch, Ms. Trec said. She would move to suppress the evidence stemming from the warrantless search, and the state’s case, she said, would fall apart.