BANGOR — A Maine man who fatally shot a protected bald eagle while he was barred from having a gun or a hunting license has been sentenced to a year in prison.

A federal judge in Bangor on Monday also sentenced 51-year-old Stephen Voisine to two years of probation and ordered him to undergo mental health and substance abuse treatment.

Authorities started investigating after getting an anonymous tip in November 2009 and finding the bird near a logging road in Kingman in eastern Maine.

Voisine told investigators he thought the eagle was a large hawk.

The Bangor Daily News reports that Voisine’s lawyer asked that his client be spared prison time because of mental health and medical conditions.

Voisine had been barred from possessing guns or a hunting license because of prior convictions.


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