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http://dailynews.yahoo.com/h/ao/20000711/cr/man_gets_3_years _for_sheep_sex_assaults_1.htmlMan Gets 3 Years for Sheep Sex Assaults LAKESIDE, Calif. (APBnews.com) -- A Southern California animal abuser convicted of fatal sexual assaults on sheep has been sentenced to prison.
A judge on Monday sentenced James Donald Ray, 39, to three years and four months behind bars for sexually molesting three sheep, two of which died.
Ray, who was unemployed, faced a maximum 15-year sentence because of his lengthy list of previous convictions.
Ray was caught during a stakeout by the sheriff's department last August after he climbed into a pen and tried to have sex with a female sheep in Lakeside, a rural suburb 13 miles east of San Diego. The sheep lived on a high school agricultural program's farm.
Died of suffocation
Two other sheep on the farm had been sexually assaulted in May and July. Both had been tied up and died of suffocation.
Sheriff's deputies began to closely watch the farm at night.
"They were concerned that the violence might escalate and involve teenagers," said San Diego County District Attorney's Office spokeswoman Gayle Falkenthal. "They were worried. These were pretty vicious assaults, and they didn't know what was happening."
Ray was charged with felony animal cruelty and misdemeanor animal sexual assault.
Lawyer: Didn't mean to hurt them
Ray admitted the sexual assaults during testimony in which he cried constantly. But his attorney contended the assaults didn't technically fall under the state's definition of animal cruelty, which implies a specific intention to hurt an animal. The jury rejected that argument.
At least 24 states prohibit sexual activity with animals, according to the Humane Society of the United States in Washington. Penalties range from misdemeanor sentences in 19 states to fines as high as $50,000 in Montana and sentences up to 20 years in Massachusetts and Rhode Island.
By Randy Dotinga, an APBnews.com West Coast correspondent.
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