Last week there were two jury trials in District Court.  Both involved the killing of animals. One was a wildlife violation and the other a neighbor shooting a neighbor’s dog.  The first trial was the cases of Michael Christoff and Alan Orr.  They had been charged with Unlawful Hunting Second degree and Hunting Bear over Bait.

This case began when the DFW received an anonymous tip that a bear had been killed over bait.  In an investigation spanning several days, Officer Anderson spent 20 hours conducting surveillance on the suspected bait site.  He observed two hunters come and go.  Officer Anderson and Sgt Charron made contact with the two hunters on 9/5/10.  The two admitted that they were hunting bear, but denied engaging in bear baiting.  They were cooperative with the wildlife officers and admitted taking a bear earlier.

Two officers testified and the two defendants took the stand. After hearing all the testimony, the jury deliberated for 1.5 hours and returned guilty verdicts on both counts on both men. The court imposed community service and financial penalties. Both will lose their hunting privileges for 5 years.

The second trial involved a case in which, Mr. Dana Henry was charged with Malicious Mischief and Trespassing.  On 7/15/10 a Brazilian mastiff belonging to one neighbor was found dead when they arrived home that evening.  An investigation revealed that their dog had been shot 5 times.

Investigation by Stevens’s county sheriff’s office revealed another neighbor, Mr. Henry had called in earlier and stated a dog had been barking for 6 hours and when he went to investigate, he had shot the dog in self defense.  Both the owners of the dog testified that their dog had been a loving member of the family for over 9 years and had been companion dog for their 18 year old handicapped son.

The defendant offered testimony to support his contention that he had shot the dog in self defense.  The jury deliberated approximately 2 hours and returned verdicts of guilty to the offenses of Criminal Trespass 2^nd degree and Malicious Mischief 3^rd degree.

Deputy Prosecutor Lech Radzimski conducted both trials for the State.   Jim Irwin represented the hunters and Mike Clay represented Mr. Henry.