Falcon trial begins

COEUR d'ALENE - The first day of Patti MacDonald's trial in Kootenai County District Court centered around a phrase and a scarf.

MacDonald, 60, is accused of attacking a hunter's falcon in January near the site of a Halloween corn maze attraction in Hauser. On Wednesday, a jury of three men and three women began hearing testimony that will lead them to determining MacDonald's guilt in two misdemeanor charges - beating or harassing an animal and pursuit of a protected bird.

The incident occurred on Jan. 7 when MacDonald allegedly parked her red Jeep Wrangler near the spot where Scott Dinger's falcon, Hornet, was in the process of killing a duck the duo had successfully hunted. As Dinger, 50, approached the scene, he saw his falcon, clearly injured, flying away.

Dinger found Hornet dead about an hour later.

Craig Walker, an Idaho Department of Fish and Game regional conservation officer, became aware of the incident the night it occurred and began an investigation. In his report, Walker wrote that his office received a phone call from an unidentified woman who said she saw a falcon take a duck from the air and then tried to scare away the falcon in an attempt to save the duck.

When the falcon remained in place holding the duck, the woman said she removed a scarf that had beads on it and beat the falcon.

In his opening argument Monday, Prosecutor Art Verharen called the investigation fairly simple. Fish and Game was able to trace the anonymous phone call to MacDonald within two weeks of the incident, he said.

A necropsy, conducted by a Fish and Game official in Boise, determined Hornet died of blunt force injuries, Verharen said. He also used his opening argument as an opportunity to warn the jury.

"There's this phrase you're going to hear over and over again," Verharen said. "'I beat the shit out of your falcon.' All of these witnesses, when they testify, are going to be saying that phrase."

One man, Larry Kraft, stopped when he saw MacDonald's Jeep on the side of Beck Road. The 54-year-old testified that he then asked an agitated MacDonald if she needed assistance.

According to Kraft, MacDonald said she needed help getting the injured duck from underneath the vehicle, and also made the comment she would later make when Dinger approached.

"She was obviously upset," Kraft said. "But she seemed more angry to me because of the words she chose to use."

Two coworkers, as well as a Fish and Game office specialist who took MacDonald's anonymous phone call the night of the incident also testified that MacDonald used the phrase when describing her encounter on Beck Road.

During the office specialist's testimony, Verharen asked how she was able to so clearly recall a phone call that occurred several months ago without taking any notes or recording the conversation.

"It's not every day I get a call about someone beating a falcon to save a duck," she replied.

The office specialist also testified that MacDonald mentioned she hit the falcon with a beaded scarf. Two of MacDonald's coworkers agreed, with one saying she saw the bright, beaded scarf hanging on MacDonald's desk chair the day of the incident.

"I thought it was unique and mentioned that to her," she said when asked how she could remember the scarf.

But when MacDonald took the stand, she told a story that differed from previous testimony heard in the courtroom.

MacDonald said she travels the same route to and from work every day. In her free time, she said she enjoys painting wildlife - mostly of the animals that wander onto her property to be fed.

"I like animals quite a bit," MacDonald said. "I'm quite fond of them."

On Jan. 7, MacDonald said she was wearing a light black scarf with fringes on each end along with the rest of her work attire. As she was driving home, she saw a duck and a falcon engaged in a struggle on Beck Road.

"The duck was quacking and flapping, just doing whatever it could to get away," MacDonald said.

She left her vehicle to attempt to shoo the falcon away and said she began clapping loudly.

"He (Hornet) just kept tearing at the poor duck," MacDonald said. "The falcon was literally not paying attention to me."

She said she then took off the scarf, folded it in half, and hit Hornet with it. Nothing happened, so she said she hit the falcon again.

"I didn't know what else to do so I dropped it lengthwise over its head," MacDonald said. "It let go of the duck and flew 2 feet to sit on a snowball. It looked at me and I realized this wasn't a wild bird."

When Dinger approached, she said she became confused when he identified himself as a hunter and told MacDonald she was interfering with a lawful hunt.

"I thought he was trying to bully me," she said.

MacDonald said she then saw Dinger grab the duck after it had ran out from under her Jeep. The falconer wrung the duck's neck to kill it.

"It felt like someone kicked me right in the chest," she said. "I could not believe he had killed that duck right in front of me; he knew I was trying to save it."

The anger was what caused MacDonald to utter the phrase to Dinger, she said. Upon being questioned by Verharen about using the same phrase with Kraft, and after the incident, MacDonald denied saying it.

Instead, MacDonald said she told the individuals she had "whacked the bird on the tail feathers" with her scarf. MacDonald also denied that she owns a scarf with beads on it, telling the courtroom she only owns three scarves and none of them are brightly colored or beaded.

MacDonald's trial is scheduled to conclude today in Kootenai County District Court.