Las Vegas ( Law Student kills bird - The bird was beheaded at a Vegas resort )

Berkeley law student guilty in bird death

 

 

Eric Cuellar (Las Vegas Police Department/Courtesy)

A UC Berkeley law student pleaded guilty Thursday in an incident in which an exotic bird was beheaded at a Las Vegas resort in October.
Eric Cuellar, 24, pleaded guilty to misdemeanor instigating or engaging in animal cruelty and was sentenced to 48 hours of community service, ordered to attend an alcohol counseling class and told to pay a $200 fine and $150 in restitution.
A fellow UC Berkeley law student, Justin Teixeira, faces felony charges of killing the bird.
Police said the two men were spotted throwing a dead 14-year-old helmeted guinea fowl, talking about how it was killed and “laughing about it” at the Flamingo Hotel at 9:35 a.m. Oct. 12.
Surveillance cameras filmed the men “chasing the bird into the trees” at the hotel’s wildlife habitat, police said.
“A witness then observed the suspects emerge from the trees, carrying the body and severed head of the bird,” police said.
Cuellar was seen tossing the dead bird back and forth, authorities said.