How do you properly punish someone for his part in a poaching operation that resulted in the killing of hundreds of deer out-of-season and by the use of a variety of illegal weapons? A year in prison doesn’t seem like nearly enough time, but it does help if throughout that time the poacher must watch the Disney classic of heartbreak Bambi at least once for each month he’s behind bars.
That’s just what one Missouri judge did while presiding over one of the biggest poaching cases in the state’s history. He sentenced 29-year-old David Berry Jr. to a year in prison with the added order that, “At least one time per month, that Defendant is to view the Walt Disney movie Bambi, with the first viewing being on or before December 23, 2018, and at least such viewing each month thereafter during the Defendants incarceration in the Lawrence County Jail.”
Will it make him, like millions of children across cultures and generations, cry like a baby? Will it make him see just how cruel and horrible an asshole he was? Maybe not. But at the very least the unusual sentence gained this man more, much deserved, attention and shame.
Deer poacher sentenced to watch ‘Bambi’ every month during a year in Missouri jail [NBC News]
