Taxidermy case a test

STAUNTON — Selling the stuffed black bear was fine. But not the “road kill” deer antlers.

That’s how a judge ruled Thursday in the case of Jon Goble, 46, of Churchville, indicted last year after he sold a mounted black bear to an undercover officer from the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries for $1,000.

Officials searched the man’s Stover Shop Road home, seizing bobcat and coyote pelts, a frozen federally protected barred owl, numerous “road kill” antlers and computer records, before bringing additional indictments for the sale of animal parts.

The sale of animal parts is illegal in Virginia unless authorized in state code.

In the end, it was law code, more so than facts, that kept the attorneys at odds before Judge Victor V. Ludwig acquitted Goble for the black bear sale and found him guilty of two misdemeanors and one felony.

“We lost on the antlers,” defense attorney Dana Cormier said after the hearing, promising a court appeal because of the lack of clear statute about their sale.

Assistant Commonwealth’s Attorney Robin Boylan, working his first “big game” case, agreed the code might be imprecise.

“It really boiled down to an interpretation of code,” he said. “It’s fairly technical.”

On his motion to strike the black bear charge, Cormier successfully walked Ludwig through the code, showing Goble could legally have obtained the pelt and sold it under code pertaining to “wild animals.”

As for the antlers, Cormier argued their sale did not occur in Virginia because the items were kept at the Pennsylvania home of Goble’s father and sold via eBay. The judge did not accept that argument, saying the online listing was posted from Virginia. He said the Internet gives Goble’s home business a “big front door step” that nevertheless remains in the state.

The case also highlighted conflicts in testimony between Goble and DGIF agents, who had previous run-ins with him and whom Cormier characterized in questioning as hostile. Goble has been convicted for illegally possessing road kill.

“I can’t help it if I run into the same person twice,” DGIF Senior Officer N.T. Nestor said after the trial.

Goble declined to comment. Cormier said his client’s business has been killed by the prosecution. Goble could lose his hunting license and be barred from owning a firearm, Cormier said. He said other taxidermists in Augusta County could be affected by the unclear antler code.

Boylan said Goble, as a businessman, should have been aware of the law.

Goble awaits an August sentencing hearing.