Man Sentenced in Tame Deer Decapitation

HOUSTON - Brandon Gregory, the man who beheaded a popular park deer, will spend 18 months in prison, a judge decided Thursday. In addition, Gregory will not be able to get a hunting or fishing license in Katy for five years.

Gregory had already pleaded guilty in August to hunting without a landowner's consent, but was hoping to get deferred adjudication for the November 2008 attack at Bear Creek Park near Katy.

Back then, the park was home to a deer named Mr. Buck, who was between 10 and 13 years old

Assistant Chief J.J. Laine with Harris County Precinct 5 said that Gregory gained access to the wildlife sanctuary by cutting through a metal hurricane fence around the backside of the park, then cutting through a metal padlock.

"I think there was just something in him that wanted to claim and collect that head as a trophy of Mr. Buck," said Prosecutor Eric Bily.

In court, Bily held up the deer's skull, which authorities found in Gregory's freezer, as part of his argument to put him behind bars

"By doing that he (the judge) is doing more than punishing him. He's destroying his life essentially. I shouldn't say the judge did that. His (Gregory's) conduct destroyed his life, but the judge could've saved it for him by giving him deferred," said Connie Williams, Gregory's defense attorney. "The conduct that my client engaged in, but for it happening at night, and but for it being a trespass, is engaged in by 100,000 hunters in Katy alone every year."

Deferred adjudication was a hard sell.

Bily argued Gregory was already was on probation for a theft charge when he killed Mr. Buck.