Diorama Drama

Most of the clients that I have seen charged with criminal mischief fall into three categories: jilted lovers, road ragers, and graffitists. As it turns out, it may be time to reconsider my attempts to categorize people charged with criminal mischief.

The director of the Texas Military Forces Museum here at Camp Mabry is alleged to have destroyed a diorama built by high school students in Arizona. A previous museum director commissioned the diorama from the school, but Jeff Hunt (who was dismissed from a previous job at the Nimitz Museum in Fredricksburg) decided that because the work was historically inaccurate. Former employees claim that Hunt lost his temper with the diorama and tore it down over a weekend during Fall 2007. But wait! If there was an explanation for any inaccuracies, it might be because the book that the students based the diorama on was flawed. The author of the book? Jeff Hunt.

Now the high schoolers want criminal charges filed against Hunt, alleging that the diorama was valued at over $23,000 (and took over 6,000 hours to build!). They have enlisted some heavy hitters, getting both Sen. John McCain and AZ Gov. Janet Napolitano to petition Rick Perry to file some charges. Presumably, the State would try to charge Mr. Hunt with criminal mischief (Texas Penal Code Sect. 28.03). That section reads:

(a) A person commits an offense if, without the effective consent of the owner:
(1) he intentionally or knowingly damages or destroys the tangible property of the owner;
(2) he intentionally or knowingly tampers with the tangible property of the owner and causes pecuniary loss or substantial inconvenience to the owner or a third person; or
...
(b) Except as provided by Subsections (f) and (h), an offense under this section is:
...
(5) a felony of the third degree if the amount of the pecuniary loss is $20,000 or more but less than $100,000;

Ouch. 10 years in jail because he didn't like the diorama based on his own flawed book. Sounds like that bent Wookie could cost you, Jeff.