Appeals court reinstates 'thrill kill' charges in deer slaughter case

[Go Big Red!]

Appeals court reinstates 'thrill kill' charges in deer slaughter case

Written by Jim Collar Gannett Wisconsin Media

A state appeals court issued a decision Thursday that reinstates felony charges against two rural Weyauwega brothers accused of running down and killing deer with snowmobiles in a 2009 "thrill killing" incident.

The District IV Court of Appeals, based in Madison, said Waupaca County judges should not have dismissed felony animal mistreatment charges against Rory and Robby Kuenzi.

The charges were dismissed after the state Department of Natural Resources cited the men for conservation violations. The Waupaca County judges ruled the men couldn't be prosecuted on both felony charges and conservation violations for the same crime. They said after the men were cited by the DNR with violating the state's hunting laws, which explicitly exempt hunters from animal mistreatment charges, prosecutors could not pursue six criminal animal mistreatment charges against Rory Kuenzi and five against Robby Kuenzi.

The Kuenzis had used those citations to argue they were hunting, not mistreating animals under state law.

The appeals court rejected those arguments.

"If the Legislature intended a blanket prohibition on applying the cruel mistreatment statute to the taking of wild animals, it could have done so with simple direct wording, such as this: 'This chapter may not be applied to the taking of wild animals,'" the decision says.

"The Legislature did not."

Atty. Gen. J.B. Van Hollen praised the appeals court's ruling.

"The court of appeals properly recognized that Wisconsin's law protects wild animals from cruel treatment," Van Hollen said in a written statement. "This decision is one that will be lauded by all who love and appreciate Wisconsin wildlife."

The case of Nicholas D. Hermes of Waupaca, who was charged with five animal mistreatment counts in connection with the incident, was put on hold while the Kuenzi appeal was considered.