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NEWARK, N.J. (AP) — More than three years after a whale died with a bullet wound in New Jersey, the federal government charged a commercial fisherman with killing the animal.
Now the fisherman says in a court filing that the investigation disregarded the facts and the charges should be dismissed.
The pilot whale was found on a beach in Allenhurst in September 2011 and it died soon after. Authorities determined that the 740-pound mammal starved to death because of an infection caused by a bullet.
In February, Daniel Archibald was charged in the case.
Prosecutors say he had posted on Facebook complaining about pilot whales eating tuna and admitted to "spraying" whales with shots to scare them away.
But in Friday's filing, lawyer Bill Hughes Jr. says Archibald did not shoot the whale.
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