A woman accused of taking a baby duck out of a fountain in Las Vegas, tossing it around and injuring it, should not have been charged with any crimes, according to her public defender.

Destiny Reyes, 29, has been in custody at the Clark County Detention Center since early June, when she was arrested on two counts of willful or malicious torture, maiming, or mutilation of an animal.

Las Vegas police accused Reyes of climbing into the Venetian Fountain on the Las Vegas Strip, taking a baby duck referred to as Daffy in police reports, and tossing it into the air more than 50 times. 

She is also accused of walking around with the animal, shaking it back and forth, dropping it onto the pavement, smacking it with her hand and forcefully spreading its wings. Wildlife officials said the duck’s right wing was shaking and injured.

When police arrested Reyes on June 9 around 12.15pm, officers reported that she was ‘uncooperative, belligerent, and refused to speak about the incident.’ 

On July 2, Reyes pleaded not guilty. She is being represented by a public defender, who recently argued that prosecutors misinterpreted the law they used to charge her.

‘This case turns on a single word: kept. The State was required to show that Ms. Reyes tortured or unjustifiably maimed, mutilated, or killed “[a]n animal kept for companionship or pleasure, whether belonging to the person or to another,”‘ public defender Benjamin Nemec said in court documents reviewed by KLAS.

’The State’s interpretation of the statute erases kept, instead allowing them to proceed on any animal, even one that is not kept for companionship or pleasure,’ Nemec continued. 

‘On the plain language of the statute, as well as the canons of statutory construction, this is wrong.’

The public defender argued that prosecutors applied the law to Reyes when they should not have because the baby duck was a wild animal that was not owned by the Venetian or anyone else.

The specific charge of willful or malicious torture, maiming, or mutilation of an animal requires that it be owned, Nemec said. 

The public defender has filed a petition for writ of habeas corpus, which is a legal request to challenge unlawful detention. As a result, she could be released from custody after the court hears the request on August 8. 

It appears, however, that the court has amended Reyes’s charges to cruelty to animals, according to Clark County court records. 

The charge is broader and carries less severe penalties if convicted. Willful or malicious torture, maiming, or mutilation of an animal carries a potential sentence of up to four years in prison and fines of up to $5,000 if the animal is not killed. 

Animal cruelty carries a potential sentence of up to six months in jail and fines of up to $1,000. 

Reyes’s bail stands at $7,500, but she has remained in jail because she fears for her safety, according to the habeas corpus petition filed by her attorney. 

The petition stated that she has received ‘sometimes violently racist death threats’ since she was arrested last month. Reyes is scheduled to face a trial by jury on September 8.