Marty
01-12-2005, 05:51 PM
Scranton, PA -- PITTSBURGH Federal prosecutors in Pittsburgh have accused a Virginia man of mailing pit bull fight videotapes to government investigators.
Sixty-one-year-old Robert Stevens, of Pittsville, Virginia, is the first person to stand trial under a 1999 federal animal cruelty statute signed by former President Clinton.
Stevens' attorney doesn't dispute that Stevens sold the tapes, some of which he narrates.
But federal public defender Michael Novaro says his client shouldn't be targeted under the law and that the videotapes have a historical value.
Stevens' trial began this week and will continue today.
Sixty-one-year-old Robert Stevens, of Pittsville, Virginia, is the first person to stand trial under a 1999 federal animal cruelty statute signed by former President Clinton.
Stevens' attorney doesn't dispute that Stevens sold the tapes, some of which he narrates.
But federal public defender Michael Novaro says his client shouldn't be targeted under the law and that the videotapes have a historical value.
Stevens' trial began this week and will continue today.