The state's attorney general says animal mistreatment charges against a pair of Waupaca County men should not have been dismissed. Attorney General J.B. Van Hollen has announced the state Department of Justice will seek an appellate court review of two decisions recently entered in Waupaca County Circuit Court.
Robby and Rory Kuenzi were charged with multiple counts of felony animal mistreatment stemming from allegedly corralling and running down deer while riding snowmobiles last winter. Circuit court judges dismissed the animal mistreatment charges against the brothers, concluding that because the District Attorney's Office had also charged the defendants with hunting violations, the statutes precluded prosecution for animal mistreatment.
Van Hollen says DOJ believes the court erred in its interpretation of the relevant statutes.