A Feb. 16 court date has been set in Stuttgart District Court for three Georgia men facing charges stemming from an investigation into a video that showed a live deer being beaten repeatedly in the head with a heavy textbook in the back seat of a car as it traveled on U.S. 165 near Stuttgart.
Joshua Rewis, 20, of Villa Rica, Ga., has been charged with a misdemeanor offense of cruelty to animals and with wasting wildlife. Cody Jones, 25, of Carrollton, Ga., and Travis Strickland, 25, of Winston, Ga., have been charged with aiding and abetting.
Johnna Sigler, 19, of Stuttgart was issued a warning citation for aiding and abetting.
The Jan. 26 incident has drawn national attention after the video appeared on social media networks Snapchat and Facebook and eventually came to the attention of the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission, which led to its investigation.
In the 10-second video, one of the suspects strikes the deer five times in the head while others in the car are heard laughing and the deer is heard bellowing after each blow. The Game and Fish Commission identified Rewis as the man hitting the deer.
According to the Game and Fish Commission, the group was in the area to duck hunt in the Bayou Meto Wildlife Management Area when the deer was hit. Sigler was driving the yellow Ford Escort.
"They pulled over thinking that the deer was dead and they put it in the back of the car," said Keith Stephens, interim chief of communications for the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. "Evidently, it started moving around a little bit and that's when they started cracking it with the book."
The group eventually pulled over and the men dragged the deer to a ditch along the highway and left it, Stephens said. Rewis told officers that he had planned to tag the deer and clean it.
After the video went viral, a Facebook account of the Department of Natural Resources in Georgia was inundated with messages about the video. After ascertaining the identity of the suspects and that it took place in Arkansas, Georgia officials contacted the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission on Jan. 28.
"From the Facebook page it was pretty obvious who it was, and the person's name was listed," said Major Stephen Adams with the Department of Natural Resources, an agency similar to the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission. "We started getting private messages saying, 'Please look at this video.'
"We were able to piece it together pretty quickly."
Stephens said Rewis was interviewed in person last weekend and Sigler was contacted by telephone. Strickland and Jones were not interviewed.
Stephens said Rewis never contacted the Arkansas Game and Fish Commission about the deer so that it could be put down humanely and retained as game. Wildlife officials later located the dead deer and disposed of it, Stephens said.
Stephens said the Georgia men were licensed to hunt in Arkansas. After the cases go through the court system, the Game and Fish Commission will decide whether to impose hunting sanctions on the three.
In Arkansas, violation points are assigned to sportsmen convicted of fish and wildlife violations. If a hunter accumulates 18 violation points within three years, it could result in the revocation of hunting and fishing privileges for one year. Penalties are steeper for repeat violations.
Jones and Strickland could be assigned six points each on their charges of aiding and abetting and Rewis could be given 12 points on the wasting wildlife charge, Stephens said.
Georgia and Arkansas are members of the Interstate Wildlife Violator Compact, an agreement among participating states to share information regarding fishing, hunting and trapping violations. It allows for recognition of suspension or revocation of licenses and permits in other member states that result from hunting, fishing and trapping violations.
Georgia does not use a points system for its violations, Adams said, but would honor the suspension of the three accused in the case if Arkansas suspends their licenses.
State Desk on 02/06/2016