Man sentenced to 18 months for killing Mr. Buck

Man sentenced to 18 months for killing Mr. Buck
Head of beloved deer was found in defendant's freezer
By BRIAN ROGERS
HOUSTON CHRONICLE
Feb. 4, 2010, 9:50PM

Prosecutors blasted the 24-year-old man who admitted killing Harris County Precinct 3's beloved tame deer known as “Mr. Buck,” calling him “dark in the heart” before he was sentenced Thursday to 18 months in state jail.

Brandon Eugene Gregory pleaded guilty in August to a felony charge of taking a wildlife resource without landowner consent. He was sentenced by state District Judge Herb Ritchie.

“Mr. Buck was a joy for all of us, and Mr. Gregory stole that,” Assistant Harris County District Attorney Eric Bily said.

Connie Williams, Gregory's attorney, argued that the young man should be placed on deferred adjudication to save him from a felony conviction that will void his license as an insurance adjuster.

“In all my years practicing law, I have never had a client who was so disliked by the whole community,” Williams said. “He is hated.”

Williams noted that, except for knifing a penned deer, Gregory did something Texans do “hundreds of thousands of times every year. He killed a deer.”

The November 2008 incident shocked animal lovers across the Houston area. The 8- to 10-point buck, which lived at Bear Creek Pioneers Park's wildlife sanctuary, was comfortable around people and let visitors scratch his chin.

In court Thursday, Bily held up the deer's skull and explained that investigators found it in Gregory's freezer.

Gregory told investigators he jumped the fence that night and was charged by the deer when he was about 15 feet away. He said that after the deer pinned him to the ground with his antlers, he stabbed the animal with a knife. He later used the knife and a bone saw to sever the deer's head.

Williams said the deer had physical problems that kept wildlife managers from releasing him to the wild.

“Had Mr. Buck been healthy, Mr. Gregory would not have made it out of that pen alive,” Williams said.

He said the deer gored Gregory in the buttocks and inner thighs before being stabbed in the heart.

brian.rogers@chron.com

http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/6851161.html

Stabbing a tame deer to death. How pathetic.

CoC prevents me from saying exactly how I feel, but sure do wish Mr. Buck would've had one more shot at that general area with his antlers.