A federal judge expressed surprise Wednesday that a dinosaur skeleton seized
by the U.S. government is a composite of several ancient creatures, calling it
a “kind of Frankenstein model of a dinosaur.”

U.S. District Judge Kevin Castel said it seemed much more needs to be
learned about the 70 million-year-old Tyrannosaurus bataar skeleton, known as
Ty, before it can be carted off to Mongolia, where the U.S. government says it
originated and belongs.

With the judge”s approval, U.S. agents swooped into a storage facility in
June and snatched the fossil after the government insisted it was a rare
specimen that could only have originated in Mongolia. The fossil”s seizure
seemed urgent after it was sold by Dallas-based auction house Heritage Auctions
for $1.05 million.

Attorney Michael McCullough argued the skeleton should be returned to
Gainesville, Fla., fossils dealer Eric Prokopi, who says he assembled dinosaur
pieces that were worth only tens of thousands of dollars into a nearly intact
skeleton worth much more.

The judge said he thought the skeleton represented one dinosaur. McCullough
told him only 37 percent of the skeleton came from one specimen, with an equal
amount of the finished product coming from at least one other dinosaur and
possibly many.

“Now I”m finding out it”s kind of a Frankenstein model of a dinosaur,
based on several creatures,” the judge said.

It also was revealed that dinosaur pieces were brought into the United
States in four shipments, not one, as had been described in papers filed by the
government.

The U.S. government has said the dinosaur had to have been taken from
Mongolia and must be returned. McCullough argued that much of the skeleton
might have originated in other countries and that the government had not
sufficiently shown why it must be sent to Mongolia.

A prosecutor said it was highly unlikely that bones originated outside
Mongolia and that they are subject to forfeiture whether they originated with
one dinosaur or many.

Through a quirk of law, the U.S. government was forced to sue the dinosaur
itself so that it could seize it, a fact that did not get past the judge.

“I”m not going to claim I have dinosaur arrests presented to me with
any frequency,” he said.

Although the dinosaur was not in court Wednesday, the judge left open the
possibility that it would be brought in if the case goes to trial.

In describing its size, a prosecutor said it would be possible to fit two
similar size dinosaurs in the jury box.

The judge replied: “I don”t think we”ll have a skeleton in the jury
box, but we might have it in the courtroom.”

AP