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Judge sentences taxidermist
Guide used Cortez man's service after illegal kills
Herald Denver Bureau
Paul Ray Weyand also must pay a $2,000 fine, do 50 hours of community service and spend three years on probation. U.S. District Judge Walker Miller handed down the sentence Tuesday.
Weyand, owner of Memories on the Wall taxidermy, pleaded guilty in March to three misdemeanor counts of illegally labeling and transporting wildlife - two black bears and a mule deer buck. Prosecutors dropped four other counts against Weyand.
Earlier in December, Miller sentenced Utah hunting guide Eric Leon Butt to a year in prison for being the ringleader in the poaching crimes. Butt or his clients illegally shot several animals, and Butt sometimes took the carcasses to Weyand to be mounted.
"I consider these offenses to be serious. I think the crimes ... should be punished and impact all of us in our life and experience with life - which hopefully for most of us includes an appreciation of nature," Miller said.
Butt's hunting clients were prosecuted and sentenced by another judge, and each of them received a fine or probation.
Miller said he thought Weyand's role warranted a prison sentence, but he couldn't send him to prison when the people who actually killed the animals got only probation or less.
Weyand admitted making a rug out of a black bear that one of Butt's clients illegally shot. He also admitted sending another bear hide to a tannery after putting on an official seal from New Brunswick, Canada, that he took from a different bear. The tannery won't accept hides without a government seal.
Prosecutor Linda McMahan argued for a prison sentence, calling Weyand's work an essential part of Butt's crimes.
"He needed a dirty taxidermist. He needed someone who could launder the poached animals and effectively deliver trophy mounts for his clients," McMahan said.
But Weyand's attorney, Kelly McCabe, noted that Butt led several illegal hunts that never involved Weyand.
"He's a young man that has led a law-abiding life prior to this particular incident," McCabe said.
Weyand spoke briefly to Miller.
"I'd just like to apologize for what I've done. I realize it was a lot more serious than I originally thought," Weyand said.
After Butt and McCabe pleaded guilty last winter, attorneys argued about how to place a monetary value on the animals. Higher values lead to more severe sentences.
McCabe argued that Weyand received less than $2,500 for the taxidermy work. Wildlife agents also seized pelts worth $1,000 from five illegally killed bobcats from Weyand in March 2006. Butt had nothing to do with the bobcat killings, McMahan said.
In Butt's case, Miller decided the wildlife was worth more than $10,000 because that's what Butt made as a hunting guide. Miller used the same value in Weyand's case, which led to a recommended sentence of six to 12 months in prison. However, judges don't have to follow the guideline ranges.
Miller, who isn't a hunter but enjoys fishing, said Tuesday he wanted to value the wildlife "as it exists in nature, and not as it may or may not be reduced through taxidermy."
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