Wednesday, October 19, 2005. SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER STAFF
A truck driver identified in court papers as taking part in an incident in which a friend died after having sex with a horse on an Enumclaw farm was charged Tuesday with having trespassed on the farm.
Though police reports indicate that James Michael Tait of Enumclaw admitted joining the friend and another acquaintance for repeated acts of sex with horses at the Enumclaw farm, prosecutors said he couldn't be charged with animal cruelty because no evidence was found of any physical injury to any of the horses involved.
Tait can't be charged with bestiality. Washington is one of 17 states that permit bestiality.
Police say Tait, 54, was videotaping his friend having sex with a horse in July when his friend "received the injuries that ultimately led to his death."
Tait told police that he, the Seattle man who died and another man repeatedly had sneaked onto his neighbor's farm in the middle of the night, without permission, to engage in animal sex.
The third man was not charged, prosecutors say, because they couldn't find sufficient evidence placing him in the barn during the night in question.
The case was filed in the Southwest Division of King County District Court. If convicted, Tait faces a maximum one-year jail sentence. He will be arraigned during the week of Oct. 31, prosecutors say.
According to Sgt. John Urquhart of the King County Sheriff's Office, the charge against Tait ends the inquiry.
"Nobody else is under any more investigation," he said, including the owners of the farm.
Urquhart said the Sheriff's Office believes sex with animals is not happening any more at the farm.
