By Associated Press
A former Boulder police officer was convicted Tuesday of killing a
bull elk that had become a treasured companion in an upscale neighborhood and
whose death sparked marches, prayer vigils and at least one tribute song.
A jury found Sam Carter guilty of nine charges. He could face up
to six years in prison after shooting the animal known as Big Boy last year as
it grazed beneath a crabapple tree, The Daily Camera reported.
Boulder animal activist Jessica Sandler applauded the verdict.
'It is so rare for an animal to get any semblance of justice in
our court system,' she told the newspaper.
Carter argued that the elk had become dangerously domesticated and
was scaring local dogs.
But prosecutors told the jury the killing was a case of
poaching by an officer who sought to use his position to get an illegal trophy
mount.
After shooting the elk, prosecutors said, Carter called a friend
and former officer to pick up the carcass and butcher it. They also said Carter
later forged a tag to pass off the dead animal as road kill.
'They had no right to use their standing as police officers to
poach this animal and lie about it,' Boulder County District Attorney Stan
Garnett said.
The trial opened with debate over whether the elk's prior 'bad
conduct' could be used as evidence, and whether jurors familiar with Big Boy
could be impartial.
'Sam Carter is not guilty of anything but trying to protect
citizens of Boulder from a nuisance elk,' Colin said, as some in the packed
courtroom shook their heads.
Prosecutors flashed a photo of the elk looking peaceful in a yard,
and later showed another picture of a uniformed Carter hovering over the
animal's carcass, grabbing its antlers and smiling.
Prosecutors say Carter called another officer, Brent Curnow, to
come cart away the body in his pickup truck, and together they butchered the
animal for its meat. Curnow pleaded guilty last year to tampering with evidence
and other charges and is expected to testify against Carter.
The officers swapped text messages about 'hunting' for 'wapiti,'
the Shawnee word for elk.
The exchanges culminated with a stark message from Carter to
Curnow well before Carter's shift began: 'He's gonna die.'
Nestled against the foothills and home to a Buddhist university,
Boulder is known for its love of the outdoors. Its residents routinely rank
among the country's most fit.
Witnesses said the sight of the hulking animal was a highlight of
countless hikes and jogs.
'Maybe we're strange, but the philosophy up here is live and let
live,' pet supply store owner Mary Lee Withers told The Associated Press in an
interview. 'That elk never did anything.'
Withers would encounter the elk on walks with her St. Bernard. Her
neighbors sometimes found it sleeping in their yards. She is helping raise
money for a memorial bench, which she said will be cut from sandstone and have
porcelain inlays bearing the elk's likeness.
The case also inspired a Boulder man's tribute song, 'Reason to
Kill (Ballad of Big Boy).'
Its visceral lyrics include: 'Gunned down for nothing, But his
sovereign space, Wrong time, wrong place.'
'He was not a pet, but he was a fixture of Mapleton,' Withers
said. 'He had been there for years.'
The charges against Carter included three felonies — forgery,
tampering with evidence, and attempting to influence a public official.
Misdemeanor counts against him included misconduct, illegal
possession of a trophy elk, conspiracy to commit illegal possession of
wildlife, unlawfully taking a big game animal out of season, and unlawful use
of an electronic communication device to unlawfully take wildlife.