Maine 'hermit' sentenced to re-enter society with counseling

By Dave Sherwood

AUGUSTA, Maine (Reuters) - A Maine man who claims to have spent 27 years living in the woods as a hermit pleaded guilty on Monday to burglary and theft in a deal in which he will receive mental health counseling to re-enter society.

Judge Nancy Mills, of Maine Superior Court, ordered Christopher Knight, 47, to check in weekly with the court to confirm that he is either working full time, attend schooling or volunteering, and undergoing mental health counseling for a year to ensure a "successful" return to the community.

"This is someone who has had no involvement with anybody for 27 years," Knight's lawyer, Walter McKee, said. "It's a very unique case, a very unique sentence for a very unique person."

Knight said he walked into the woods in 1986 shortly after he heard about the Chernobyl nuclear accident and claims to have had little human contact since.

He pleaded guilty on Monday to 13 counts of burglary and theft, and was returned to jail to await his release when terms of the agreement are finalized.

Knight was arrested in April after police said they caught him stealing food and supplies he needed to survive from a summer camp for the disabled along North Pond about 20 miles west of Maine's capital of Augusta.

Gaunt and pale with a full beard, Knight listened quietly as Mills asked if he understood he would be required to tell his court-appointed case manager "the truth" in order to receive the best rehabilitation treatment possible.

"Who will decide what is the truth?" Knight replied.

McKee said Knight poses no threat to society, but it was still unclear where he would reside upon release.

"That's been the big issue since day one, where is he going to go?," said McKee, who said no one knew how Knight might respond to the everyday pressures of society.

District Attorney Maeghan Maloney said the agreement hinged on the nature of Knight's crimes.

"He was stealing peanut butter. He was not stealing jewelry. And he did not at any point attack a human being. Those were top considerations," she said.

Knight initially pleaded not guilty when indicted in August, but changed his plea on Monday after lawyers and the judge agreed to the alternative sentence and rehabilitation.

Knight's case has been romanticized by many, but police say that he committed as many as 1,000 burglaries in order to survive.

Knight's camp, well-appointed with a tent, sleeping bags and cook stove, was just a few hundred yards from the nearest house. It was hidden among boulders and crevices on a hillside of evergreens, leaving neighbors uneasy for decades.

(Editing by Barbara Goldberg and Leslie Adler)

Society & CultureCrime & JusticeMaine Superior Courtmental health counseling

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Idaho man sentenced to seven years for killing zoo monkey

By Laura Zuckerman

(Reuters) - An Idaho man who admitted to breaking into a Boise zoo last year and killing a monkey was sentenced to seven years in prison on Thursday, court records show.

Michael Watkins, 22, of Weiser, Idaho, in March pleaded guilty to attempted grand theft, a felony, and misdemeanor animal cruelty stemming from the break-in and beating death of the monkey at Zoo Boise in November.

The primate was one of the zoo's two Patas monkeys, ground-dwelling animals from Africa that stand more than 2 feet tall and weigh about 35 pounds. They are rare in zoos but not endangered in the wild.

The case shook officials at the zoo and triggered an outpouring of sympathy and donations from animal lovers worldwide.

Watkins scaled the security fence at Zoo Boise in the pre-dawn hours of November 17 and attempted to steal the monkey, which bit him, police said. Watkins then kicked and hit the animal, severely wounding it, according to police. The monkey later died of blunt force trauma, zoo officials said.

Zoo Boise Director Steve Burns said on Thursday the sentencing of Watkins closed a particularly devastating chapter for the facility.

"We're moving on," he said. "The court has done its job and we're continuing to do our job."

In the days after the death, zoo staff sought to boost the spirits of the companion-less Patas monkey and considered shipping it to another zoo with primates since they are exceedingly social, Burns said.

Instead, Zoo Boise in December gained two female Patas monkeys donated by the Rosamund Gifford Zoo in Syracuse, New York.

News about the monkey's death brought donations from across the United States and overseas, allowing the zoo to begin construction on Monday of a $250,000 exhibit for the three Patas monkeys, Burns said.

(Editing by Dan Whitcomb and Bill Trott)

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Amish sect Leader of Ohio sentenced to 15 years for attacks

A former NFL cheerleader is shoot the cyber bullies after supporters of a rival soccer team called her "ugly" and "an eyesore" on Facebook. Kaitlyn Collins of Eagle River, Wisconsin, who used to be a cheerleader, Green Bay Packers, posted a video response to YouTube ...

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