Criminal Justice

Texas Lawyer Who Bagged Monster Gator Is Charged with Illegal Hunting

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Overjoyed at slaying a monster alligator weighing nearly 900 pounds with a single shot on his first reptile hunt last month, a Texas lawyer didn’t hesitate to talk with reporters about killing the 14-foot animal.

Now, however, Levi McCathern II is charged in Leon County, along with three guides, with illegal hunting on private property, United Press International reports.

The 42-year-old Dallas litigator plans to fight the misdemeanor charge, his lawyer says, because he believed the guides had the owner’s permission to hunt on the land. At least one of the guides also says the group had permission.

McCathern’s lawyer, George Milner III of Dallas, predicts he will be acquitted and says McCathern did the public a service by killing the animal.

“As big as this alligator was, they should have given him a medal,” Milner tells the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

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