Poacher sentenced

From the Daily World:

A 35-year-old Ocean Shores man must serve a year in jail for a misdemeanor hunting charge after allegations he helped chase down a deer with a car and kill it with a knife.
Deputy prosecutor Gordon Wright said James J. Breslin Jr. was sentenced to the maximum sentence of 365 days in county jail and about $3,200 in fines for unlawful hunting of big game.
“I’m satisfied with the outcome,” Wright said.
Judge Gordon Godfrey handed down the sentence Monday after Breslin pleaded guilty to the hunting charge, reduced from three felony hunting charges.
Wright said lost records alleging Breslin had a previous hunting conviction in King County prevented him from following through on the felony charges.

Wright said he had planned to pursue a six-month sentence on the felony charges, but recommended just 15 days in jail in the misdemeanor plea agreement.

“It’s more than I expected,” he said of the year-long sentence.

Court records say Breslin, with the help of other men, illegally killed several deer in late 2007 near Ocean Shores without a license. They allegedly left a knife near an elementary school and Breslin’s boss told authorities he later heard the men talking about the illegal hunt.

“The defendant was mad at one of the other individuals for leaving a knife behind the day after they chased the deer down, killed it with the knife and drug it from the lawn area to the parking lot for transportation home,” court records stated.

Wright said Breslin told the court the knife allegations were the result of workplace issues with his boss.

Court records stated investigators with the state Department of Fish & Wildlife analyzed animal DNA samples collected from the Ocean Shores school parking lot, Breslin’s van and his home.

“The results from the DNA testing is that all the DNA evidence from three locations were from the same deer,” court records stated.

Additional DNA testing identified the remains of seven separate deer in Breslin’s home, court records stated. Investigators found several recent photos of Breslin with deer, including one he sent to Washington Fishing & Hunting News magazine.