In Florida, Hillsborough Country Judge Dan Perry threw out charges of cruelty to animals against Manuel Machin for shooting a possum he treed in his backyard. Assistant State Attorney Jan McDonald had attempted to portray Machin in a very bad light, telling the court, "he raises his rifle into the air and fires a shot—a possum falls. This is a very, very serious case." The judge, though, dismissed the cruelty charge against Machin, agreeing with the defense's claim that "we're not talking about a fuzzy little dog here, we're talking about a varmint, we're talking about a nasty, filthy creature."

†