Sentenced to Watch Bambi.

• Author: Grise, Chrisanne
• Position: THE LAW - David H. Berry Jr. - Brief article

Bambi has been making fans cry since its release in 1942, but now the beloved Disney movie's tear-jerking power is part of a unique jail sentence. In December, a Missouri judge ordered David H. Berry Jr., 29, to watch Bambi once a month throughout his year behind bars. Viewing the film--which features a moving scene where the fawn's mother is felled by a hunter--is part of Berry's punishment for his role in a poaching operation believed to have killed hundreds of deer. The judge, Robert E. George, was "trying to get through to this guy, some kind of emotional response over the gravity of what he has done," says Don Trotter, a prosecutor who worked on the case. While the sentence is surprising, it's not the first time a...