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Man pleads guilty in `mule murder' By CHRIS BRISTOL Caught on tape, a White City man accused of blasting away at a mule up to 30 times with a shotgun pleaded guilty Monday to a charge of first-degree animal abuse. Meanwhile, the owner of the slain mule faces trial today on the same charge. A key piece of evidence is video footage of the May 28 incident taken by the owner's Beagle Road neighbors. Jackson County Deputy District Attorney Debbie Minder described the video as "brutal and shocking." She said she has been preparing for trial on the case for more than a month. "That animal didn't deserve to die this way," she said. "It was a mule murder." In court Monday, an attorney for James Anthony Hastie admitted that his client shot the mule "20 or 30" times with a single-shot 20-gauge shotgun, using birdshot designed to bring down three-pound fowl -- not a 1,000-pound mule. The attorney, Vance Waliser, agreed that his client's actions amounted to torture. He said even though Hastie thought he was using more lethal buckshot, the shotgun itself was probably too small to do the job right. "The animal clearly suffered," Waliser said, "adding, "Yes, this conduct was reckless." Hastie, 52, is scheduled for sentencing Thursday. He could get up to a year in jail on the conviction, a Class A misdemeanor. In a statement to the court, Hastie told Judge Patricia Crain that he was only trying to put the mule down. Co-defendant David Lee Bennett attended the hearing Monday, and the two men left court together. "I shot the mule to kill it because it was injured," Hastie said. Outside the courtroom, Minder disputed Hastie's rationale. Bennett claimed the mule was mortally wounded by a stick to the chest from jumping over a fence, she said, but the animal appears to be fine on the videotape. Bennett, 43, had just bought the mule at an auction, she said. He is a convicted felon, which prevents him from owning a gun and may explain why he asked his friend for help. Minder insisted that Bennett is just as guilty as Hastie. Bennett turned down a plea bargain and requested a trial before a judge, not a jury. "He set the wheels in motion and he assisted Mr. Hastie," she said. "Whenever the animal tried to move away, he would step in front of it and block its path." The trial is scheduled to start at 8 a.m. A judge will be assigned this morning. Minder said she decided not to charge the men with aggravated animal abuse, a Class C felony, because the charge carries a higher standard of "knowingly" or intentionally trying to torture the mule. Mail Tribune Copyright � The Mail Tribune 1999, Medford, Oregon USA