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Prosecutors Wrestle Unsuccessfully With a Bear of a Misdemeanor Case

Posted Nov 4, 2009, 01:25 pm CST
By Martha Neil

Was it a bear den, or wasn't it a bear den? That was a central question in an unusual trial of a mentally ill man, who won an acquittal this week in a misdemeanor zoo trespassing case.

Although, in fact, Kenneth Herron did enter the San Francisco Zoo's grizzly grotto at closing time on Sept. 26, his lawyer, deputy public defender James Conger, argued that he hadn't realized it was a bear den, reports the San Francisco Chronicle.

Jurors trying to decide whether to convict the 21-year-old on a misdemeanor charge of disturbing dangerous animals—the grotto's two 500-pound female grizzlies—also apparently found convincing the defense lawyer's argument that the bears weren't actually disturbed, rendering a not… Continue reading...



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