Let’s all go home and lock our doors

Not all states have anti-bestiality laws, and Peter Bower's ongoing case in Ohio exemplifies prosecutors' frustration. There was evidence that Bower had had sex with a dog ("Maggie") and had written her "love" letters, and police arrested him in June. Prosecutors were willing to settle the case in November for minimal punishment because the only law Bower could have been charged under is "animal cruelty," and they explained that they might have had trouble showing harm to the apparently adored dog. (At the time of Bower's arrest, a search had uncovered human-animal pornography and a life-sized inflatable sheep.) [WBNS-TV (Columbus), 11-28-2011]

A 77-year-old man was killed by a sheriff's deputy in December while standing beside his own engraved tombstone in a Gardnerville, Nev., cemetery. (The victim was holding a shotgun and was distraught over the death of his wife.) [WNBC-TV (New York City)-AP, 12-9-2011]

A 20-year-old man died of an apparent cocaine overdose in North Charleston, S.C., in December as a result of trying to help his older brother. The pair had been arrested and placed in a police cruiser when the older brother convinced the younger one to swallow the ounce of cocaine the older man was carrying. (According to a police report, the cocaine had been stored in the older man's "backside.") [Charleston Post & Courier, 12-21-2011]