4:30 p.m. Monday (AP) — A federal judge has sentenced two Texas brothers to prison for what prosecutors say may have been the largest deer poaching operation in Kansas history.

James Bobby Butler Jr. was the owner and operator of a hunting camp near Coldwater, where his brother, Marlin Jackson Butler, worked as a guide.

James Butler was sentenced Monday in Wichita to 10 months in prison and has already paid a $25,000 fine. Marlin Butler received an eight-month sentence with no fine.

The brothers, from Martinsville, Texas, pleaded guilty in 2011 to conspiring to violate a federal law prohibiting interstate transport of wildlife taken in violation of state regulations. James Butler also pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice.

An appeals court last year ordered new sentences after ruling the district court miscalculated their sentences.

 

 

(AP) — A federal judge is expected to hear testimony on the market value of deer before sentencing two Texas brothers convicted of running a Kansas hunting camp where hunters paid thousands of dollars to shoot deer illegally.

James Bobby Butler Jr. was the owner and operator of the hunting camp. His brother, Marlin Jackson Butler, worked as a guide. The brothers, both from Martinsville, Texas, pleaded guilty to conspiring to violate a federal law prohibiting the interstate transport of wildlife taken in violation of state regulations.

James Butler also pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice.

An appeals court last year said the district court made a mistake in 2011 in calculating sentences based on the full price of a guided hunt, rather than the actual retail value of the animals.