Man sentenced for attack with porcupine feces
Wednesday, March 13, 2002By Barton Deiters
CHRONICLE NEWS SERVICE
An unrepentant James Beal will spend 18 months in federal prison for throwing three 5-gallon buckets filled with porcupine feces, worms and parasites at workers in the Empire Post Office.
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The 62-year-old pleaded guilty in December to three counts of assaulting federal employees for the Oct. 18 incident, which occurred the day after he was fired for unsatisfactory work.
U.S. District Judge Gordon Quist heard from victims Tuesday who told of the horror and disgust of being soaked with the fecal matter and the embarrassment of being the butt of jokes when the incident gained national attention, including a mention on "The Tonight Show" with Jay Leno.
Wisecracks came from radio shows and people on the street. A local store even sold Empire Porcupine Poop candy to capitalize on the fame.
But the victims were not laughing.
"You felt like it was permeating your skin" said Tanis Lehmann, a visiting postmaster from Cedar who heard the screams of her female co-workers.
Beal already had soaked Postmaster Virginia Raz and clerk Lorna BonJernoor and was returning to the office with a third bucket. Lehmann said she stood 5 feet away from Beal trying to reason with him.
"I said 'Jim don't. Jim, don't,"' she said. She testified that Beal just glared at her then threw the fecal matter, drenching her from head to toe.
As the victims testified, Beal would smile and sometimes chuckle.
When Beal stood to speak he did not deny that he threw the feces, but said he had reason to do it. He said he was fired from the $7.70-per-hour job after less than a week for no good reason.
"This was an assault on my person," Beal said. "If my conduct was reprehensible, then their conduct was reprehensible.
"There is an equivalency."
Quist disagreed.
"If everybody could throw (feces) at people who've hurt their feelings, what kind of society would we live in?" Quist said.
The judge said far from being remorseful, Beal seemed to glory in the acts.
Quist used that criteria, in part, to justify deviating from sentencing guidelines, which would have called for a shorter sentence for the man with no criminal record.
In addition to the 18-month prison sentence, Quist ordered Beal to pay about $10,000 in fines, fees and restitution. Although Beal's attorney was paid by the government, Beal owns a $500,000 home and has another residence near Chicago as well as $40,000 in liquid assets and a $30,000 retirement fund.
Beal was also banned from the Empire Post Office and told to have no contact with the victims.
Beal's attorney asked that Beal be allowed to turn himself in at a later date. However, Quist instead had a federal marshal take Beal into custody immediately.
"He has a history of reacting badly to bad news," Quist said.