H
Huck58
Guest
Has this been posted before! I just came across it today.
We will see if money talks!
Illegal hunt: Guide faces hard time, wealthy client not indicted. Is that right?
A quick show of hands: All those in favor of a guide being indicted on a charge of importing antlers and horns from an illegal hunt abroad ? yet his billionaire client gets off scot-free?
That's apparently the case in Texas, where a guide faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted while the grand jury has declined to indict the rich hunter who booked the trip, the Associated Press reports from Houston.
It's a tough one to call. We can see both sides: Throw the book at the guide only, or throw in the hunter ? who claims ignorance ? as well.
What would you do?
Robert Kern, head of The Hunting Consortium in Berryville, Va., led a 2002 hunting trip in Siberia, where 74-year-old Houston energy tycoon Dan Duncan and other hunters shot moose and sheep while flying in a helicopter, the AP reports.
According to the indictment, "Kern used helicopters to locate trophy-sized moose and sheep for hunters on the trip. The helicopters were then used as airborne shooting platforms by the hunters."
Kern was indicted Wednesday on one count of violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits importation of wildlife taken in violation of conservation laws.
"Bob Kern is not guilty of these allegations and will vigorously contest them in court and trial," said his attorney, Tim Heaphy.
In July, Duncan told a Houston grand jury he was unaware hunting from an aircraft was illegal in Russia.
Rusty Hardin, Duncan's lawyer, said the grand jury declined to indict his client. "We're hopeful that this matter is over as far as Dan Duncan and the other hunters are concerned," Hardin said.
Duncan, who ranks 85th on Forbes' worldwide list of billionaires, has an estimated net worth of $8.2 billion, according to the AP. He is chairman of the company that manages Enterprise Products Partners, a midstream energy giant with more than 30,000 miles of natural gas, petrochemical and crude oil pipelines and other facilities.
We will see if money talks!
Illegal hunt: Guide faces hard time, wealthy client not indicted. Is that right?
A quick show of hands: All those in favor of a guide being indicted on a charge of importing antlers and horns from an illegal hunt abroad ? yet his billionaire client gets off scot-free?
That's apparently the case in Texas, where a guide faces up to five years in prison and a $250,000 fine if convicted while the grand jury has declined to indict the rich hunter who booked the trip, the Associated Press reports from Houston.
It's a tough one to call. We can see both sides: Throw the book at the guide only, or throw in the hunter ? who claims ignorance ? as well.
What would you do?
Robert Kern, head of The Hunting Consortium in Berryville, Va., led a 2002 hunting trip in Siberia, where 74-year-old Houston energy tycoon Dan Duncan and other hunters shot moose and sheep while flying in a helicopter, the AP reports.
According to the indictment, "Kern used helicopters to locate trophy-sized moose and sheep for hunters on the trip. The helicopters were then used as airborne shooting platforms by the hunters."
Kern was indicted Wednesday on one count of violating the Lacey Act, which prohibits importation of wildlife taken in violation of conservation laws.
"Bob Kern is not guilty of these allegations and will vigorously contest them in court and trial," said his attorney, Tim Heaphy.
In July, Duncan told a Houston grand jury he was unaware hunting from an aircraft was illegal in Russia.
Rusty Hardin, Duncan's lawyer, said the grand jury declined to indict his client. "We're hopeful that this matter is over as far as Dan Duncan and the other hunters are concerned," Hardin said.
Duncan, who ranks 85th on Forbes' worldwide list of billionaires, has an estimated net worth of $8.2 billion, according to the AP. He is chairman of the company that manages Enterprise Products Partners, a midstream energy giant with more than 30,000 miles of natural gas, petrochemical and crude oil pipelines and other facilities.
