DOVER-FOXCROFT – A Parkman man will be sentenced today for trying to murder his son, an admitted zoophile, or person who has a sexual attraction to animals.
Frank Buble, 71, pleaded guilty last December in Piscataquis County Superior Court to attempted murder and elevated aggravated assault. He is accused of trying to kill his 44-year-old son, Phillip Buble, by striking him several times with a crowbar on Sept. 13, 1999.
The elder Buble reportedly attacked his son, intending to kill him, because of the son’s attraction to a dog, among other reasons.
In the September assault, the younger Buble received a broken arm and several lacerations and required medical treatment at Mayo Regional Hospital in Dover-Foxcroft.
In anticipation of today’s sentencing, Phillip Buble submitted a written request to the court asking that his “significant other,” a short-legged, mixed-breed dog named Lady, be allowed in the courtroom for the sentencing.
The request was denied.
In his written request addressed to Justice Andrew Mead, presiding this week in Piscataquis County Superior Court, Buble stated that he would be exercising his right to speak at the sentencing.
“I’d like my significant other to attend by my side if possible as she was present in the house during the attack, though not an eyewitness to it, thank goodness,” Buble wrote.
“I’ve been informed your personal permission is needed given that my wife is not human, being a dog of about 36 pounds weight and very well behaved,” he added.
The letter carried Buble’s signature and a hand-drawn paw print. Typed below Buble’s written signature were the words “Phillip and Lady Buble.”
Justice Mead denied the request Tuesday, noting that no animals are permitted in the courthouse unless it is a guide dog in the company of a visually impaired person.
Frank Buble could face a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison on each count.
The case has brought national attention to Phillip Buble, who actively promotes his unusual lifestyle. After the incident gained notoriety, he was featured on a Boston radio talk show.
Last December during Frank Buble’s plea hearing, Piscataquis County District Attorney R. Christopher Almy said that had the case gone to trial, the evidence would have shown that Frank and Phillip Buble lived together in Parkman. The prosecutor said Phillip Buble had finished taking a shower that September day when his father attacked him with a crowbar.
“The beating was rather savage at the time,” Almy said in court. The younger Buble fled to a neighbor’s house and was taken later to the hospital, where he remained overnight, according to Almy.
Frank Buble told police that he had intended to kill his son because he was upset with his son’s lifestyle and because of a dispute regarding the care and upkeep of the house, the prosecutor said.
After his father pleaded guilty to the charges, Phillip Buble said in an interview that he did not want his father to spend time in jail or prison.
Rather, he said, “he needs serious therapy.”
Since the case was publicized, the Maine Animal Control Association has filed a legislative act to amend animal welfare criminal laws to make bestiality a Class C crime, unless minors are involved either as participants or witnesses; then it shall be one class higher.
There are no laws against bestiality in Maine.
The state association introduced the amendment because Maine had six cases of animal sexual abuse last year, according to Donald E. Harper, state director of the Maine Animal Control Association.
Harper said the cases involved two dogs, two horses and two cows. In addition, there are now investigations into similar cases, he said Tuesday.
The proposed legislation, which has not yet been printed, is being sponsored by Sen. Lloyd LaFountain III, D-Biddeford, and co-sponsored by Sen. Michael McAlevey, R-Waterboro. McAlevey is chairman of the Legislative Criminal Justice Committee.
Harper said that while there is much support for the proposed amendments, there also is much opposition to the changes from those who prefer sex with animals, known nationally as “zoos.”
“There’s an organized effort to fight this,” Harper said.
Under the proposed act, a person is guilty of bestiality if that person commits any of the following: engages in any sexual activity with an animal with the intent of sexual gratification of the individual; coerces anyone to have sex with animals; enters into sexual acts with animals in the presence of a minor; uses any part of their body or an object to sexually abuse or stimulate an animal; videotapes sexual animal abuse, or kills, abuses or uses any part of their body on an animal for sexual gratification.
The proposed changes in the animal welfare criminal laws do not prohibit normal and accepted practices of animal husbandry.
A violation under the proposed changes would carry a fine of up to $10,000.
