bowlinger qua bowlinger

The Wisconsin supreme court denied cert in State v. Hathaway last Friday, August 1. It’s a real shame that the crummy appellate opinion (previously) is going to be allowed to stand.

SCOTUS denied cert. today in Cavel International, Inc., v. Madigan (previously, Posner). The civil right to slaughter horses for human consumption continues to be denied in Illinois.

“No sense at all. No sense at all. Like I say, it’s just a criminal mind”
- Cheatham County Sheriff John Holder

From MSNBC. First the hilarious parts of the story:

ASHLAND CITY, Tenn. - Police said someone frustrated at gas prices left a dead deer and a sign at a Cheatham County gas station.

Rising gas prices are weighing heavily on everyone, and Moe Patel said he does his best to keep matters light with his customers.

It was at Patel’s station last week that Patel’s wife found a dead pregnant deer with a note attached to it that said, “Lower gas prices. Humans are taking it out on us.”

“My wife and I, we’re both dumbfounded. It doesn’t make sense,” Patel said.

“They have a right to be frustrated,” Patel said.

Patel said he understands the anger but said that people should aim higher with their complaints because sinking to the level of killing an innocent animal doesn’t help anyone.

“My and my wife run this small business. If they really want to make a change and give a message, you know, for example, take it in front of the White House lawn. If you have problem with the gas prices, do something about it. What am I going to do about it? I can’t do anything about it, you know. I’m just the messenger,” he said.

Now the legal aspects:

Detectives and officials with the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency are investigating who killed and dumped the deer and why.

Whoever is responsible could face animal cruelty charges, police said.

Officials said it is possible that the deer could be road kill because they haven’t determined the cause of its death. A report said only that the deer had trauma to the back part of its body.

Holder said however it died, tying it up and moving it to the gas station was the act of more than one person.

Cruelty to animals in Tennessee is TN Code 39-14-202. (a)(1) is “torture” and (a)(3) is unreasonable abandonment. I don’t think either of these apply, even if the deer were killed just for the protest. 39-14-212, “aggravated cruelty to animals” only applies to “companion animals,” i.e. pets. Not sure if abuse of an animal corpse would fit into this section. I’d search the case law, but I’m afraid to do so with my work Westlaw account.

I do think there’s a clear violation of 70-4-116(d)(1) - killing or posessing a deer without properly tagging the animal.

While I was poking around in the Tennessee Criminal Code, I checked out the “no-sex-with-animals” statute. It is 39-14-219, which not only criminalizes (a)(1) - engaging in “any sexual activity with an animal,” but also (a)(2) - causing, aiding or abetting it. And even (a)(3) - permitting it “to be conducted on any premises under the person’s charge or control”. Naturally, there had to be an exception (d) - for “accepted animal husbandry practices”.

I’m not sure “husbandry” would be the word I would have chosen.