Deer Gone Wild UPDATE
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Iowabowtech
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Figured that wouldn't go over too well. That dude was an idiot.
sofakingfast_1
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Feds drop charges against ‘Deer Commander’
April 23, 2010 at 11:36 AM
ST. LOUIS (AP) - A U.S. Supreme Court ruling forced federal prosecutors to drop charges this week against an Illinois man who sold videos of himself running over deer with his reinforced pickup truck.
Jarrod Hayn, 38, of Kampsville, Ill., was charged last month in U.S. District Court in St. Louis with two felony counts for possession and sales of “depictions of animal cruelty” for commercial purposes.
Those charges were dropped on Thursday after the Supreme Court ruled two days earlier that a law against possessing videos of dogfighting was unconstitutional.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Hayn, a former Illinois Department of Corrections officer, boasted on the video “Deer Commander: Sudden Impact” that he had killed more than 300 deer with his 1985 Dodge Ram.
Until the Supreme Court ruling, prosecutors believed it was illegal for Hayn to possess or sell the video. They relied on a little-used law originally intended to outl aw fetish videos in which small animals were crushed before women’s feet.
But in an 8-1 decision in a case involving a dogfighting video, the high court said the law against the video violated the First Amendment by prohibiting speech or expression because of its content.
While the court’s ruling noted there are state laws against animal cruelty, Missouri officials say there’s nothing they can do to Hayn because investigators don’t know when the killings happened.
Officials said most of the kills happened in Illinois, where there’s a one-year statute of limitations for the deliberate taking of deer with a vehicle.
At least one of the videotaped kills happened in Missouri, officials said.
Hayn’s attorney, Ed Fanning, said even though charges against his client have been dismissed, that doesn’t mean Hayn is walking away unscathed.
“His family’s been devastated financially as a result of this,” Fanning told the Post-Dispatch.
Fanning sa id people are taking Hayn’s video out of context, but that’s partially Hayn’s fault. Claims that he had more than 300 kills are “a total, absolute fabrication,” he said.
“It’s all theatrics to try and sell these videos,” Fanning said. “I think he’s made himself out to be a monster.”
Fanning said Hayn started videotaping collisions with deer as a way to prove to his auto insurance company that his deer-related claims were legitimate. He said the 40-minute video represents a compilation of “encounters” with deer over a decade, and that Hayn had edited the footage to appear that he was trying to kill the deer.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agent Dan Burleson said some of that claim is true. He said Hayn and his wife each had insurance claims related to deer collisions and from there “it became a sport.”
Fanning said Hayn started trying to sell the video after friends saw it and suggested he could make some money. But the lawyer said Hayn never m ake a profit and doesn’t have any plans to begin selling the video again.
April 23, 2010 at 11:36 AM
ST. LOUIS (AP) - A U.S. Supreme Court ruling forced federal prosecutors to drop charges this week against an Illinois man who sold videos of himself running over deer with his reinforced pickup truck.
Jarrod Hayn, 38, of Kampsville, Ill., was charged last month in U.S. District Court in St. Louis with two felony counts for possession and sales of “depictions of animal cruelty” for commercial purposes.
Those charges were dropped on Thursday after the Supreme Court ruled two days earlier that a law against possessing videos of dogfighting was unconstitutional.
The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Hayn, a former Illinois Department of Corrections officer, boasted on the video “Deer Commander: Sudden Impact” that he had killed more than 300 deer with his 1985 Dodge Ram.
Until the Supreme Court ruling, prosecutors believed it was illegal for Hayn to possess or sell the video. They relied on a little-used law originally intended to outl aw fetish videos in which small animals were crushed before women’s feet.
But in an 8-1 decision in a case involving a dogfighting video, the high court said the law against the video violated the First Amendment by prohibiting speech or expression because of its content.
While the court’s ruling noted there are state laws against animal cruelty, Missouri officials say there’s nothing they can do to Hayn because investigators don’t know when the killings happened.
Officials said most of the kills happened in Illinois, where there’s a one-year statute of limitations for the deliberate taking of deer with a vehicle.
At least one of the videotaped kills happened in Missouri, officials said.
Hayn’s attorney, Ed Fanning, said even though charges against his client have been dismissed, that doesn’t mean Hayn is walking away unscathed.
“His family’s been devastated financially as a result of this,” Fanning told the Post-Dispatch.
Fanning sa id people are taking Hayn’s video out of context, but that’s partially Hayn’s fault. Claims that he had more than 300 kills are “a total, absolute fabrication,” he said.
“It’s all theatrics to try and sell these videos,” Fanning said. “I think he’s made himself out to be a monster.”
Fanning said Hayn started videotaping collisions with deer as a way to prove to his auto insurance company that his deer-related claims were legitimate. He said the 40-minute video represents a compilation of “encounters” with deer over a decade, and that Hayn had edited the footage to appear that he was trying to kill the deer.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service special agent Dan Burleson said some of that claim is true. He said Hayn and his wife each had insurance claims related to deer collisions and from there “it became a sport.”
Fanning said Hayn started trying to sell the video after friends saw it and suggested he could make some money. But the lawyer said Hayn never m ake a profit and doesn’t have any plans to begin selling the video again.
