Lawyers for Donkey-Sex Suspect Challenge Law’s Constitutionality
Lawyers for Donkey-Sex Suspect Challenge Law’s Constitutionality
Defense asserts denial of due process, demands right to diddle Doodle.
The guy’s lawyer must be a jackass.
OCALA - Lawyers representing a Marion County man accused of sexual activity with a miniature donkey have filed a motion asking a judge to declare the Florida statute banning sexual activities with animals unconstitutional.
Carlos R. Romero, 32, declared last week that he wanted to take his case to trial. He is accused of sexual activities involving animals, a first-degree misdemeanor, after he allegedly was found in a compromising position in August with a female miniature donkey named Doodle.
In the motion filed in Marion County court on Dec. 6, the assistant public defenders handling Romero’s case — Joshua Wyatt, Scott Schmidt and Joshua Lukman — wrote that the statute infringes upon Romero’s due process rights and violates the equal protection clause of the Fourteenth Amendment in the U.S. Constitution.
The statute’s designated punishment for a first-degree misdemeanor conviction, a year in county jail, also constitutes cruel and unusual punishment and is excessive, the attorneys wrote.
Romero previously rejected the State Attorney’s Office plea offer of a year of probation, a $200 fine, a psychosexual evaluation and possible treatment, STD testing, no contact with children in a school setting, no ownership or possession of any mammals, and revocation of his license to work in horse racing.
Last week at a brief status conference, Romero confirmed that he wanted to take his case to trial. Jury selection is scheduled to begin Monday.
No ownership or possession of mammals? There’s always the chickens.
