By Joyce Kryszak
Cheektowaga, NY – 63 year-old Anita Depczynski said she will go to jail rather than promise to stop feeding the deer in Stiglmeier Park.
The woman better known as the "Deer Lady" turned down a plea deal Tuesday in Cheektowaga Town Court that would have spared her jail time.
She is charged with violating a previous judicial order to stop feeding the deer, and two additional charges for violating the state's feeding ban.
If convicted, Depczynski could be punished to forty-five days in jail - or longer if cited again.
Cheektowaga Town Prosecutor James Vallone said that is not what he wants.
"I'm going to give the Judge as many options as he can possibly gather in, so he will have those available to him - whether it's education oriented, whether it's going to be volunteer work - because I'm sure the last thing he wants to do would be to incarcerate her," said Vallone.
"But we may eventually get that choice, and no other choice, because she's made it very clear, at least to me, that she's not going to stop," he added.
The retired cleaning woman will represent herself at the trial that is set to begin January 13.
Depczynski said she is tired of being portrayed as a "kook." She said she hopes the trial will help educate people about the unfairness of enforcing the feeding ban in Stiglmeier Park.