UC Berkeley Law Student Pleads Not Guilty In Vegas Bird Beheading
LAS VEGAS (CBS / AP) -- A University of California, Berkeley, law student accused in the beheading of an exotic bird at a Las Vegas Strip resort has pleaded not guilty to animal killing and torture charges.
Court officials said 25-year-old Justin Alexander Teixeira appeared Monday on two felony and one gross misdemeanor charge in the Oct. 12 death of a helmeted guineafowl at the Flamingo resort.
A jury trial is set for Oct. 14.
Security video footage allegedly showed Teixeira and two others chasing the gray bird to a walkway where the bird's body was found. The head was found amid nearby rocks.
Teixeira is due to graduate law school this spring. A felony conviction could block his admission to a state bar.
Another Berkeley student pleaded guilty in January to a misdemeanor charge.
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