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Judge Overrules Carroll County Man’s Motion For Return Of Allegedly Poached Deer Heads

A District Court Judge has overruled a Carroll County man’s motion to have evidence seized by the Iowa Department of Natural Resources (DNR) returned to him. The ruling against 38-year-old Joshua Ray Snyder’s motion was handed down Wednesday by Senior Judge, Gary McMinimee. An investigation into Snyder was launched by the DNR last year when evidence surfaced that a large buck, that was harvested in Taylor County, may have been poached. On Nov. 19, the DNR executed a search warrant in the 16000 block of Zephyr Avenue and seized three deer heads, an iPhone and 10 packages of processed venison. Snyder’s attorneys, William Kutmus and Trevor Hook from Kutmus, Pennington and Hook, PC, argued at a hearing in December that the DNR had improperly obtained a search warrant under an Iowa code that provides for general search warrants, rather than one specifically written for illegally obtained animal parts. Judge McMinimee indicates in his ruling that the way the warrant was obtained is not relevant in this case, saying, “This Court cannot believe the legislature intended to hamstring law enforcement by forcing the return of such evidentiary or investigatory materials.” As of Wednesday, no formal charges have been filed against Snyder. The DNR did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

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