Dogfight videos result in conviction

PITTSBURGH – A man was sentenced Thursday to more than three years in federal prison for selling mail-order videos of fighting pit bulls, after becoming the first person convicted at trial under a six-year-old animal-cruelty law.

Robert Stevens, 64, of Pittsville, Va., is appealing his conviction and 37-month sentence, which federal public defender Michael Novara called “inappropriate and unreasonable.”

Stevens was convicted in January of three counts of selling depictions of animal cruelty.

He never denied selling tapes like “Pick-A-Winna,” on which he described dogfighting like a sportscaster calling a boxing match. Stevens claimed not to know selling the videos was illegal.

Prosecutor Stephen Kaufman noted that the tapes were advertised in a publication he called the leading underground dogfighting magazine in the country.

“The brutal nature of the dogfighting (videos) … I think would be apparent to anybody who viewed them,” Kaufman said.

The animal-cruelty law, signed in 1999 by President Clinton, was spawned by so-called “crush videos.” Those tapes show small animals being crushed by women wearing spiked heels.

Novara has argued the law is overly broad and violates Stevens’ right to freedom of expression.

Stevens is free on bond while he appeals.

He was charged in Pittsburgh rather than Virginia because the videos were sold to Pennsylvania State Police and U.S. Department of Agriculture agents.