[12/1/04]A Redwood man was ordered Tuesday to pay fines and court costs of $2,398 after he entered a guilty plea to two game violations and was found guilty of three others in Warren County Court.

Willie E. Skipworth, 58, received the assessments from Warren County Judge Johnny Price at the conclusion of a bench trial Tuesday.

Skipworth was charged by state Conservation Officer Donald Shropshire with deer hunting with a firearm during archery season and unlawful possession of an illegally-taken deer, to which he pleaded guilty. He was found guilty of possession of illegal shot size after legal hunting hours, baiting deer and headlighting deer. The headlighting charge is a Class I offense and carries fines from $2,000 to $5,000 and a term of five days in jail. The other charges are Class III offenses and carry fines from $25 to $100.

Price sentenced Skipworth to $100 fines on each of the Class III offenses but suspended all but $25 and ordered him to pay court costs that brought the payment on each to $98. On the Class I offense, Price ordered a $5,000 fine and a five-day jail term and suspended the five days and $4,000 of the fine. He also ordered court costs of $98 plus two years of unsupervised probation with the provision that Skipworth commit no further game and fish violations under penalty of reinstatement of all suspended fines and jail time.

County Prosecutor W. Richard Johnson handled the case for the county. During testimony, Shropshire said he received a report at 8:30 p.m. Oct. 16 of a shot fired on Redwood Road. When he arrived in the area, Shropshire said he found Skipworth behind his home skinning a freshly killed deer.

In testimony in his own defense, Skipworth said he had baited an area near a creek adjacent to his home to keep the deer out of his garden. He also said he shot the deer because it had been destroying his garden in spite of the corn and pears he had put out for their benefit.

He denied the other charges.

Skipworth had been sentenced to two years supervised probation on the condition he not engage in hunting or trapping and fined $500 in U.S. District Court in October 2000 on charges he violated separate federal game laws.