Posted on 06/13/2006 6:40:37 AM PDT by hiho hiho
DUNDEE - Dundee Middle-schooler Richard Cornwell is off the hook now in the case of the injured garden snake.
But for more than a month, he faced a Class C felony charge carrying a potential fine of $5,000. And his family had to hire a criminal defense attorney to get the 13-year-old off.
McMinnville lawyer Eric Hanson tells the story this way:
On May 4, Richard found a badly injured garden snake lying on the asphalt at his mobile home park. From the blood and wounds, it looked as if it had been run over.
He took it in for his parents to see and asked them what he should do with it.
His dad told him to put it out of its misery by banging its head against the pole supporting the basketball hoop, then hang it up on the fence for the birds. That would keep it out of the garbage and away from the kids, he said.
When Richard did as he was told, neighboring girls of 11 and 14 became upset and their dad called Newberg-Dundee police to reported a suspected case of animal cruelty.
An officer came out and cited Richard into juvenile court on a charge of first-degree animal abuse, which moves from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class C felony when committed in the presence of a minor. Anyone convicted of the offense is barred from owning or possessing a domestic animal for 15 years, in addition to other penalties.
Juvenile authorities dismissed the case Friday afternoon, following a pretrial conference. But Richard's mom, Terry, doesn't see why it ever had to come to that.
"He wasn't committing a crime," she said. "He was putting an injured animal out of its misery.
"This is ridiculous. If you're going to charge him, then fly strips should be illegal. And what about mousetraps?"
She said, "The police should apologize to Richard. It's kind of upsetting he was charged in the first place."
Surely this is a joke. Right?
... Oregon ...
Not a joke... And don't call me surely.
It's no joke. The PC / animal "rights" activists are off and running with their own domestic jihad against the rest of us.
Ask the window cleaner in Boston who is facing felony charges for killing a seagull who was divebombing him while he was trying to do his job up on the 12th floor, he too could become a felon thanks to these freaks and their dimwitted accomplices in local government.
Brother . . . /disgust
Who lives in Oregon?
Californians who are too stupid to find Washington.
Hope the statute of limitations has expired on the squirrel I whacked with a shovel in the backyard several years ago. I'd hate to go on the run at my age.
If killing snakes was against the law in Texas I would be locked away for life.
geez.....his dad deserves the atty fees for being so dumb as to not put it in the trash or bury it. A mutilated snake hanging over the fence in a neighborhood with little kids is grisly, no matter how the snake became mutilated. Dumb dad, IMO.
I read a story on one of the hunting websites about a guy being charged for killing a rattlesnake.
The kid just should have said, "Judge, that's not a snake, that's a fetus. You can't put me in jail for killing a fetus."
Oh my, lock me up for whacking that snake with an iron skillet that the cat proudly brought in the house.
I think I found it.
http://www.tpwd.state.tx.us/newsmedia/releases/?req=20040907c
TPWD Game Warden Field Notes
From the Files of the Genius Violators
A Grayson County Game Warden cited a Denison man for killing a timber rattlesnake after the man had his picture with the snake put in the local newspaper. The suspect was quoted in the paper as saying, "The only good snake is a dead snake." The timber rattlesnake is listed as a threatened species in Texas. Parks and Wildlife regulations prohibit the taking, possession, transportation, or sale of any animal species designated by state law as endangered or threatened without the issuance of a permit. Case pending.
I cannot tell you the number of snakes my lawnmower has chopped up here in the NW....wow who knew it was a crime to ever kill a snake.
Shoot, shovel, shutup!
Bug spray is a WMD.
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