Court: Sex With Sheep Does Not Warrant Registration as Offender

David Eggert

The Associated Press

September 25, 2008

The Michigan Court of Appeals has ruled that a Battle Creek man who pleaded no contest to sodomizing a sheep does not have to register as a sex offender after his release from prison.

Jeffrey Haynes, 45, is serving 2 1/2 to 20 years for sodomy -- a "crime against nature" under state law. Haynes was sentenced in 2006 after police said he had sex with a sheep at a Bedford Township farm in 2005.

The animal's owner caught him on the property and the sheep was found injured. A DNA sample taken from the animal matched Haynes' genetic material.

A no contest plea is not an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing purposes.

In a 3-0 opinion released Wednesday, the appeals court said the state sex offender registry is intended to track people who have committed crimes against humans, not animals.

Judges Jane Markey, William Whitbeck and Elizabeth Gleicher vacated a Calhoun County judge's order that Haynes register as a sex offender upon his release. They said "courts may not read or include provisions into a statute that the Legislature did not."

Calhoun County Prosecutor John Hallacy, who wanted Haynes on the sex offender list, called the ruling "well thought out" and said he would not appeal to the Michigan Supreme Court. But he said state lawmakers should change the law.

"The Legislature is going to have to take a look at this and determine whether or not this type of deviant behavior is one they want covered by the registry," Hallacy said. "It was an oversight originally by the Legislature."

Rep. Rick Jones, R-Grand Ledge, has twice introduced legislation to specify sodomy of an animal for inclusion in sex offender registration requirements. But the bills have gone nowhere. Jones has said his measures were a response to the incident involving Haynes.

Haynes has prior convictions for burglary, home invasion and uttering and publishing, which is similar to counterfeiting. A message seeking comment was left Wednesday with Haynes' attorney in Detroit.

The case is People v. Haynes.