Men get 10 days for animal killings
EAST BERLIN, Pa. (AP) -- Three men whose shooting spree killed a pregnant cow, a pony and a deer in Cumberland County were sentenced to 10 days in prison.
The sentence was far less than the 16 years Matthew Allen Kern, Christopher Adam Shope and John Lee Shope III had each faced for their guilty pleas.
All three apologized in Adams County Court, saying they had made mistakes.
"I know that night we all made mistakes we shouldn't have," Kern told Judge John D. Kuhn on Thursday. "And none of us know why we did except we were being very, very stupid."
Kuhn said the sentence was lenient in part because none of the three had prior criminal records.
"I'm trying to envision one stupid night," Judge Kuhn said.
Kern, 22, of Carlisle, pleaded guilty to charges of criminal conspiracy and cruelty to animals in December. Christopher Shope, 22, and John Shope, 24, both of Mount Holly Springs, pleaded guilty to the same charges in January.
The Shope brothers and Kern drove through northern Adams County with a rifle July 26.
John Shope killed a pregnant Holstein, while Kern killed a Welsh Cross pony; Christopher Shope killed the deer.
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