8184 - on the lam(b)

[scottobear]

BATTLE CREEK, Mich. - A man who pleaded no contest to a sodomy charge involving a sheep says he should not have to register as a sex offender.


Jeffrey S. Haynes said the state registry is intended to keep track of people who have committed crimes against humans.

But Calhoun County Circuit Court Judge Conrad Sindt told Haynes at his sentencing hearing that once he is released from prison, he must register with the Michigan State Police Public Sex Offender Registry.

Haynes, 42, of Battle Creek, was sentenced Monday to 2 1/2 years to 20 years in prison. He entered the plea in January. A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing purposes.

Tamara Towns, an assistant prosecutor for the county, argued that Haynes should be ordered to register as a sex offender because once out of prison, he could prey on children or vulnerable adults.

Haynes said he is not a violent person and would not assault children.

"The prosecutor is being real hard on me for what I did," he said. "But I should not be treated as a child molester."

A telephone call seeking comment was left Tuesday at the Marshall office of defense attorney John B. Sullivan.

Police said Haynes had sex with a sheep at a Bedford Township farm on Jan. 26, 2005. The animal's owner caught him on the property and the sheep was found injured.

Haynes was arrested in June after a DNA sample taken from the animal matched Haynes' genetic material.

Haynes has prior convictions for burglary, home invasion and uttering and publishing, and was on parole for burglary at the time of the sex crime

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The thing of it is, I agree. The sex offender/predator is a stigma that follows you everywhere, and in most states, it follows you for *life*. It is for the safety of humans in the community... and while this guy is (in my opinon) a perverted animal abuser... there's no evidence that he'll hurt other humans at all. Maybe we should set up a variant "Animal sexual offender" in case he gets a gig as a shepherd or slaughterhouse manager.

Comments

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

just that if there's thousands of male offender,s that means there's hundreds of females.

and the propagating cycle is a good point, though I didn' tintend it... tohse molested, etc are usually the ones that become predators themselves.

good thing we know a few nicey-nicers! :D

[juliabee.livejournal.com]

I was just thinking about a study and links found with noticeable incidences of animal abuse being connected with murderers. Jeffrey Dahmer is only one example. I heard his parents say during a TV interview on Jeffery, that he did mess with animals as a kid. The study I read about, was separate from him, though .

Also the link found between animal abuse and domestic abuse. Then there's also the type of domestic abuse where males intentionally torture or kill a female's pet, as a way to hurt the woman.

It wouldn't seem far off base then, to look into a link between animal sex abuse and human sex abuse, too. I wouldn't mind looking up a guy in a registry, to make sure he had not been arrested previously, for sleeping with his previous girlfriend's Poodles and cats. :P

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

Oh my gosh.. I'd never heard about that connection before! Killing someone's pet, too.... like the fatal attraction bunny. :(

If there is a correlation, then certainly reverse my stance.

[juliabee.livejournal.com]

I had no idea about it before reading it either! I hate to generalize these peeps...you just know there have to be peeps who have hurt humans, but have never hurt an animal...and proably never would. I don't even remember if the incident data I read about was high or low...but I remember being shocked when I read it.

[scottobear.livejournal.com]

I know that it would be easier for me to punch a person in the nose than it wold be for me to kick a dog, if one or the other was snarling at me.