I strongly suggest the birding community follow any developments in the
shooting. In the 90's a friend of mine witnessed a GGOW shooting on the upper
penninsula of MI. He followed through and had the man brought to court. I can't
remember the details exactly, but it happened in this general manner. The jury
was taking a few hours to deliberate. The judge called the jury out and said
something to the extent of, "this is ridiculous, this is over a bird, I want a
decision." In spite of the fact that there was an eye witness to the shooting
of a federally protected bird, the man responsible was found not guilty. The
judge's attitude towards the case seems to have had a strong impact on the
verdict.
This is an account of the story I was told first hand from my friend who
witnessed the shooting and took the man to court. I'm not saying this would
happen again, but we can't take for granted that if the shooter is brought to
court, justice will be served.
Chris Neri
