2/4/06 — A Titusville woman has been spared possible jail time for having sexual intercourse with an animal.
Tina L. Smith, 32, of 17 Jackson Way, was accepted into Crawford County Court’s accelerated rehabilitative disposition program Friday by Judge John Spataro for the charge.
The ARD program offers first-time offenders the opportunity to be rehabilitated and move through the legal system quicker. Offenders are placed on probation, ordered to pay court costs and fees, and may have other conditions placed on them. After successful completion of the program, a person’s record is expunged.
Smith was ordered to serve 12 months probation, pay a $150 administrative fee and court costs, and undergo mental health and drug and alcohol evaluations.
Smith was facing up to a maximum of two years in jail and a $5,000 fine if she would have gone to trial and been convicted.
“Anybody involved with this type of behavior ought to have a mental health examination,” Judge Spataro said Friday.
“I lost my job, my home,” Smith told him. “I’ve tried to get employment. It’s very hard with my name after the headlines.”
“We need to get to the bottom of why you engaged in this behavior,” Spataro said.
Titusville Police Department filed the charge against Smith after a methamphetamine lab raid on the Douglas R. Peterson residence in Titusville.
Police alleged Peterson, 42, acted as an accomplice in that he assisted Smith and Heidi McIntyre, 35, in having sexual intercourse with a dog at his residence back on Oct. 4, 2004.
Peterson and McIntyre also were charged and Peterson also faced charges related to methamphetamine.
However, a videotape that Peterson allegedly made showing the incident was ordered suppressed following an evidentiary hearing before President Judge Gordon Miller.
The tape was thrown out because videotapes weren’t included in the search warrant, said Francis Schultz, Crawford County district attorney.
That meant the tape couldn’t be used against either Peterson or McIntyre because they lived at the home that was raided and had an expectation of privacy since the tape wasn’t included on the search warrant, Schultz said.
However, Schultz said he could have tried to have the tape introduced against Smith had her case gone to trial because she didn’t live at the home.
Schultz said he agreed to offer Smith ARD to avoid a trial on the sexual intercourse with an animal charge.
With the tape thrown out, the same charge filed against McIntyre was withdrawn, Schultz said.
Peterson pleaded guilty Jan. 6 this year to one count of manufacturing a controlled substance — methamphetamine — and will be sentenced in Crawford County Court after an evaluation for state intermediate punishment is completed.
Peterson faces a maximum of five years in prison and a $15,000 fine when he is sentenced.
Keith Gushard can be reached at 724-6370 or by e-mail at kgushard@meadvilletribune.com
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