KCBD, NewsChannel 11 Lubbock |Court OKs house arrest sentence for ex-park ranger
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Associated Press - September 30, 2009 9:05 PM ET
SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) - The state Court of Appeals has ruled a former New Mexico state parks ranger does not have to serve time in prison for killing a man in a dispute over a campsite fee in 2005.
Former Elephant Butte State Park ranger Clyde Woods was sentenced in 2007 to five years' probation and one year of house arrest in the fatal shooting of 58-year-old Bruce Teschner. Woods pleaded guilty to voluntary manslaughter.
The appeals court said Wednesday that state law requirements for a mandatory 1-year prison term were met by the house arrest sentence.
Teschner was shot during a confrontation in which he refused to pay a $14-a-night camping fee and wouldn't leave the park in southern New Mexico.
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