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<font color=green>Emerald Angel<br><font color=mag
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LITTLE ROCK, Ark. (Reuters) - An Arkansas lawyer and his son have been charged with using the U.S. Postal Service to send a man "nonmailable matter" in the form of a deadly poisonous copperhead snake, federal prosecutors say.
Lawyer Bob Sam Castleman and his son Robert Jerrod Castleman were charged last week on suspicion of mailing the snake to a fellow resident of Pocahontas, a small town 140 miles northeast of Little Rock, "with the intent to kill or injure" the addressee, the prosecutors said.
The pair face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
The 3-foot snake arrived alive at the recipient's home but no one was injured in the incident.
"I am not at liberty to speak about motive at the moment. That will come out in due course," Bud Cummins, a U.S. attorney in Little Rock, said Tuesday.
The copperhead survived its trip through the postal system and arrived very much alive in September 2002 at the home of Albert Staton, who was considered the target of the attack, according to court documents.
Staton's wife opened the package containing the snake and called police, who arrived and killed the creature.
The snake will likely be used as evidence in a trial.
"I assume we have the corpus frozen somewhere," said Cummins.
Lawyer Bob Sam Castleman and his son Robert Jerrod Castleman were charged last week on suspicion of mailing the snake to a fellow resident of Pocahontas, a small town 140 miles northeast of Little Rock, "with the intent to kill or injure" the addressee, the prosecutors said.
The pair face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
The 3-foot snake arrived alive at the recipient's home but no one was injured in the incident.
"I am not at liberty to speak about motive at the moment. That will come out in due course," Bud Cummins, a U.S. attorney in Little Rock, said Tuesday.
The copperhead survived its trip through the postal system and arrived very much alive in September 2002 at the home of Albert Staton, who was considered the target of the attack, according to court documents.
Staton's wife opened the package containing the snake and called police, who arrived and killed the creature.
The snake will likely be used as evidence in a trial.
"I assume we have the corpus frozen somewhere," said Cummins.
