I would get rid of the pile and keep it gone at all costs until the trial is over. If you walk in with no pile and a plan to keep it gone, the judge will toss them out. I don't see him awarding anything to them even court costs if you were not in the wrong.
Trust me, you don't want to leave this situation in the hands of a judge, they may come up with a very expensive solution. I would try and to get ahold of a local garden club and make arrangements to load them up. I know I would love to be part of that. I would take an awful lot of horse crap and just till it in.
Only thing I can say about your neighbors, they are @$$holes for not coming and chatting with you about it first.
I had an issue with a neighbor who's dogs chased me everyday on my bike ride. It didn't bother me but I told her, I would like to be able to take my grandson and wife past her house without them getting scared of her dogs. She not only tried to make it my problem by telling me "I guess you just need to get yourself a can of wasp and hornet spray and use it on them, that's what we use on dogs". I said, I have no intention of doing that and you aren't going to ask a 6 year old to do this. But she was also on her ZTR when I was talking to her and when the conversation didn't end well, she started up her mower and intentionally mowed around a big rock right near her drive before I could back out and threw dust and gravel on my car.
Well, the county dog warden got a call when I got home and he said, I guess I need to go out and have a chat with her about what it means to be a dog owner in Delaware county. His exact words. Never saw those dogs on the road again.