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BY DEBORAH LAVERTY
dlaverty@nwitimes.com
219.762.1397, ext. 2223 | Wednesday, July 16, 2008 | (No comments posted.)
HAMMOND | Michael Bessigano went back to jail on Wednesday after waiving his right to a detention hearing.
Bessigano was arrested July 3 by federal authorities on a charge of transportation of obscene materials involving bestiality in the Northern District of Indiana between February and June.
John Martin, Bessigano's attorney, told U.S. Magistrate Paul Cherry his client had agreed not to contest a detention hearing.
"You're giving up your rights to a detention hearing?" Cherry asked Bessigano.
"Yes," Bessigano replied.
The 37-year-old Hobart man came to the hearing wearing oversized dark sunglasses; an orange colored issued prison shirt and blue jean cutoffs. His legs and hands were shackled.
Assistant U.S. Attorney Bernard Van Wormer, who on July 9 filed a request for Bessigano to undergo a competency evaluation, agreed to withdraw it since there would be no detention hearing.
Cherry, after remanding Bessigano back to the custody of the U.S. Marshal, also set an Aug. 29 pre-trial hearing and a Sept. 8 jury trial.
Bessigano previously served more than four years in state prison for a 2002 animal cruelty conviction for stealing a chicken from a farmer, having sex with the animal, killing it and discarding the carcass.
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