Tuesday, January 17, 2012
Arrest Made In Calf Killing Incident
An Iron City man was taken into custody early Monday for allegedly killing, then stealing a neighbor’s calf.
Ernest Earl Lawson, Jr., 49, of 9 Wolf Creek Road was booked through the Lawrence County Detention Center on charges of intentional killing of an animal and theft over $500.
Deputies with the Lawrence County Sheriff’s Department were dispatched to investigate the matter around 7:45 a.m. A man reported he had gone to Carter Road to feed cattle belonging to victim Shirley Ann Carter and discovered that a 700 pound calf was missing from the herd. He told deputies he began to ride around the property, looking for the calf. Instead, he said he found where someone had entered the property through a barbed wire fence, and what appeared to be drag marks.
The complainant told deputies he followed the drag marks across the field and onto the roadway, then to an open field approximately ½ mile away.
Around 8:30 a.m. deputies were dispatched to 9 Wolf Creek Road after Lawson was identified as a suspect. Deputies collected evidence at that scene. Reports show Lawson admitted he had shot and processed the calf, then gave it to a friend “because they had no food.”
Lawson was incarcerated in lieu of a $6,000 bond. He is scheduled to answer the charges in Lawrence County General Sessions Court on February 7, 2012.
