clipped from: www.theregister.co.uk The defence lawyer of a Wisconsin man charged with having sex with a dead deer is claiming he's innocent of any wrongdoing - because a "crimes against sexual morality" statute prohibits sex with animals, but fails to mention carcasses, The Duluth News Tribune reports.
Bryan James Hathaway, 20, of Superior, was arrested on "a misdemeanour charge of sexual gratification with an animal" after indulging in intercourse with said deceased deer on 11 October.
His attorney, public defender Fredric Anderson, last week filed a motion with a Douglas County court which argued "because the deer was dead, it was not considered an animal and the charge should be dismissed". He wrote: "The statute does not prohibit one from having sex with a carcass."
He further argued that, according to Webster's dictionary, an animal is "any of a kingdom of living beings". If you include carcasses in that definition, Anderson reasoned, "you really go down a slippery slope with absurd results".
Anderson demanded that a judge clarify "what the Legislature intended 'animal' to mean in the statute", insisting: "And the only clear point to draw the line in that definition, I believe, is the point of death."
Assistant district attorney James Boughner countered by saying that the court could indeed use a dictionary to determine the meaning of a word, but isn't obliged to do so. He told Judge Michael Lucci that "when a person's pet dog dies, the person still refers to the dog as his or her dog, not a carcass".
"It stays a dog for some time," Boughner added, noting that Hathaway himself had referred to the dead deer as exactly that, and not a carcass, when confronted by police.
Hathaway faces a possible nine months' jail and a fine of up to $10,000 on the deer sex rap, but if convicted, "could serve a prison term of up to two years because of a previous conviction". ®