Criminal Justice
Man Could Get 35 Years in ‘Arborcide’
Posted Dec 4, 2007, 12:23 pm CST
By Martha Neil
A 60-year-old Nevada man who was convicted by a jury last month of slaughtering trees worth some $250,000 in one what attorney termed an "arborcide" reportedly faces up to 35 years in prison.
However, a lawyer for Douglas Hoffman plans to ask for probation for his client, who is presently jailed without bail awaiting sentencing for malicious destruction of trees, writes the Los Angeles Times.
Authorities say Hoffman killed some 500 trees around an upscale Las Vegas area retirement community over the course of a year or so. Reportedly, he was motivated to create this carnage because the trees blocked his view of the Las Vegas strip from his vacation home.
"It's like you can murder someone and it's OK," says Hoffman's wife, Debbie, "but you're accused of killing trees, and it's like, execute him."