Posted on 06/04/2014 9:00:22 AM PDT by Uncle Chip
A former Boulder police officer was convicted Tuesday of killing a bull elk that had become a treasured companion in an upscale neighborhood and whose death sparked marches, prayer vigils and at least one tribute song.
A jury found Sam Carter guilty of nine charges. He could face up to six years in prison after shooting the animal known as Big Boy last year as it grazed beneath a crabapple tree ...
'It is so rare for an animal to get any semblance of justice in our court system,'
Carter argued that the elk had become dangerously domesticated and was scaring local dogs.
But prosecutors told the jury the killing was a case of poaching by an officer who sought to use his position to get an illegal trophy mount.
After shooting the elk, prosecutors said, Carter called a friend and former officer to pick up the carcass and butcher it.
They also said Carter later forged a tag to pass off the dead animal as road kill.
'They had no right to use their standing as police officers to poach this animal and lie about it,' Boulder County District Attorney Stan Garnett said.
The trial opened with debate over whether the elk's prior 'bad conduct' could be used as evidence, and whether jurors familiar with Big Boy could be impartial....
The charges against Carter included three felonies — forgery, tampering with evidence, and attempting to influence a public official.
Misdemeanor counts against him included misconduct, illegal possession of a trophy elk, conspiracy to commit illegal possession of wildlife, unlawfully taking a big game animal out of season, and unlawful use of an electronic communication device to unlawfully take wildlife.
(Excerpt) Read more at dailymail.co.uk ...
Well pretty blatant abuse of power. I wouldn’t give him the death penalty but how about making him stand on the street corner everyday for a month with a sign that says “I killed Big Boy”
“I don’t see the elk as the problem. This is: forgery, tampering with evidence, and attempting to influence a public official. “
Still, he isn’t a physical danger to society. We’re letting really bad people out. It’s going to cost more than $250k to warehouse him. I liked the fine him out the wazoo. Make him pay it. Forbid him from being a cop, a politician or any public job. (Though, if we prevent felons from being politician that would clear a lot of jobs in one fell swoop.)
The guy shot the elk inside the city with an AR-15. .25 caliber is the smallest legal big game round in Colorado. Then there was a forged tag for road kill, lies and a cover up.
Headline says nine years; story says six YEARS, and nine CHARGES.
Also, story says “COULD FACE”, which is standard journalese for lumping all of the individual maximum sentences into full maximum consecutive sentences: never happens. Between concurrent sentencing, dropped or reduced (padded) charges, and other factors, he’ll never come close top that six years, let alone nine.
Poaching; shooting wildlife within city limits; forgery; evidence tampering; bribery in some form or other; gross stupidity; terminal sense of entitlement: nail his hide.
That's no excuse for letting people get away with breaking the law. Obama and his crew are intent on destroying the law. I won't help them. The fact that Obama is encouraging the release of violent people in order to destroy society is no excuse for leniency.
The point is that people will march and raise hell for an elk, but would not lift a finger to help the imprisoned marine in Mexico. Give me a break. They are going to imprison him for 10 years meanwhile on the national stage Obama is getting thousands of people killed and we are having a meltdown for an elk. Ridiculous.
Good.
The wife and I drove through a herd of elk in some small Colorado town coming back down from Estes Park a few years ago. They must be pretty plentiful in that part of Colorado.
Seems just a bit stiff, to say the least of it.
I wonder how many abortion clinics there are in that "progressive" college town or in nearby Denver? Ho hum. Who cares? He killed an elk. That's what matters.
Yeah, in light of all the abortion deaths, this makes even less sense. You’re right.
(Talk about not knowing your turf!)
These are the tree huggers who didn't want the cougar raiding town shot.
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