NEWS-REGISTER (McMinnville, Oregon) 10 June 06 Teen off the hook in mercy snake-killing (Katie Willson)
Dundee: Dundee Middle-schooler Richard Cornwell is off the hook now in the case of the injured garden snake.
But for more than a month, he faced a Class C felony charge carrying a potential fine of $5,000. And his family had to hire a criminal defense attorney to get the 13-year-old off.
McMinnville lawyer Eric Hanson tells the story this way:
On May 4, Richard found a badly injured garden snake lying on the asphalt at his mobile home park. From the blood and wounds, it looked as if it had been run over.
He took it in for his parents to see and asked them what he should do with it.
His dad told him to put it out of its misery by banging its head against the pole supporting the basketball hoop, then hang it up on the fence for the birds. That would keep it out of the garbage and away from the kids, he said.
When Richard did as he was told, neighboring girls of 11 and 14 became upset and their dad called Newberg-Dundee police to reported a suspected case of animal cruelty.
An officer came out and cited Richard into juvenile court on a charge of first-degree animal abuse, which moves from a Class A misdemeanor to a Class C felony when committed in the presence of a minor. Anyone convicted of the offense is barred from owning or possessing a domestic animal for 15 years, in addition to other penalties.
Juvenile authorities dismissed the case Friday afternoon, following a pretrial conference. But Richard's mom, Terry, doesn't see why it ever had to come to that.
"He wasn't committing a crime," she said. "He was putting an injured animal out of its misery.
"This is ridiculous. If you're going to charge him, then fly strips should be illegal. And what about mousetraps?"
She said, "The police should apologize to Richard. It's kind of upsetting he was charged in the first place."
Teen off the hook in mercy snake-killing