Should an Indiana couple go to jail for saving Bambi?
That’s the question
surrounding the case of Jeff and Jennifer Counceller, who rescued an injured
fawn and nursed it back to health at their Connersville, Ind., home. The couple
now faces the possibility of jail time and fines after state officials charged
them with a misdemeanor for harboring the animal.
Jeff
Counceller, a police officer in Connersville, and his wife were charged with
unlawful possession of a deer, a misdemeanor that punished to its fullest extent
could put the Councellers in jail for up to 60 days and cost them up to $2,000
in fines.
The couple rescued the deer more than two years ago after
finding it on their neighbor’s porch. The Councellers said the deer had
sustained injuries, and they wanted to nurse it back to health.
“I could
feel all of the open wounds all along her back side and she wouldn’t stand up,”
Jennifer Counceller told ABC News.
They brought the deer home and named
her Little Orphan Dani.
The Councellers said an Indiana Conservation
Officer stopped by their home and discovered the deer this past summer. The
Indiana Department of Natural Resources wanted to euthanize Dani, saying she
might be dangerous and a threat to people.
“I was devastated. I spent a
year and several months nursing her into adulthood, getting to the point where
she was able to go out on her own,” Counceller said.
On the day Dani was
to be put down, the Councellers said she inexplicably escaped from their
backyard. Even though Dani disappeared back into the wild, the Councellers’
legal problems didn’t go with the fawn.
This is another report detailing massive over-reach on the part of government, criminalizing not just trivial behavior, but good behavior as well. I can't write a better paper on the subject than Glenn Reynolds, so read Ham Sandwich Nation: Due Process when Everything is a Crime now!
Though extensive due process protections apply to the investigation of crimes, and to criminal trials, perhaps the most important part of the criminal process -- the decision whether to charge a defendant, and with what -- is almost entirely discretionary. Given the plethora of criminal laws and regulations in today's society, this due process gap allows prosecutors to charge almost anyone they take a deep interest in. This Essay discusses the problem in the context of recent prosecutorial controversies involving the cases of Aaron Swartz and David Gregory, and offers some suggested remedies, along with a call for further discussion.
The Oligarchy is out in force, making sure you don't do ANYTHING without permission, from resucing wildlife to encouraging your children to start up a lemonade stand. If you don't take a stand this will only get worse. I've said it before, but I will say it again: liberty lives or dies on our action or indifference.
Seriously?!? Constitutional Convention man, we need to do it.
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