February 6, 2016
From NWAOnline.com
In video, Georgia man hammers hurt animal with textbook
A Feb. 16 court date has been set in Stuttgart District Court for three Georgia men facing charges stemming from an investigation into a video that showed a live deer being beaten repeatedly in the head with a heavy textbook in the back seat of a car as it traveled on U.S. 165 near Stuttgart.
Joshua Rewis, 20, has been charged with a misdemeanor offense of cruelty to animals and with wasting wildlife. Cody Jones, 25, and Travis Strickland, 25, have been charged with aiding and abetting.
Johnna Sigler, 19, was issued a warning citation for aiding and abetting.
In the 10-second video, one of the suspects strikes the deer five times in the head while others in the car are heard laughing and the deer is heard bellowing after each blow. The Game and Fish Commission identified Rewis as the man hitting the deer.
The group eventually pulled over and the men dragged the deer to a ditch along the highway and left it, Stephens said. Rewis told officers that he had planned to tag the deer and clean it.