The Nation - News from Oct. 9, 1987
A jury in Labelle, Fla., acquitted the chairman of the Florida Seminole tribe of state charges of killing an endangered Florida panther. James Billie, 43, admitted shooting the panther but said he did not know it was an endangered Florida panther. According to testimony, Billie killed a cat on the Big Cypress Indian Reservation in late 1983. He could have faced five years in prison and a fine of $5,000 if jurors in the Hendry County circuit court had found him guilty.
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