Appeals Court Rules on Stratford Goat Owner's Gun Threat Case

The state Appellate Court ruled in favor of Stratford lawyer Laurence Parnoff by overturning his conviction for disorderly conduct in a 2011 incident in which he threatened to shoot two water company employees, who believed he was using a fire hydrant to provide water for his goats, if they didn’t get off his property, according to the Connecticut Post.

• To sign up for Stratford breaking news alerts and more, click here.

Daniel Tepfer of the Post reports the appeals court ruled that Parnoff was acting to protect his property and it didn’t consider his declaration that he was going to get a gun to be an imminent threat because he was hunting around his yard looking for worms to go fishing with his grandson instead of going to get a gun.

In the July, 13, 2011 incident, two Aquarion Water Company employees noticed the hydrant in front of Parnoff’s home was missing its cap and observed a hose led from the hydrant to a goat pen and began searching the property for the cap when they were confronted by an angry Parnoff, according to the Post.

Read the full story at the Connecticut Post here.