Three Florida men accused of dragging a shark behind their speeding boat after a video of the incident surfaced on social media have all pleaded not guilty to felony charges.
Michael Wenzel, 21, Robert Lee Benac, 28, and Spencer Heintz, 23, didn't attend Wednesday morning's arraignment, where their attorneys entered the not guilty pleas.
Each of the men face two felony counts of aggravated animal cruelty. Wenzel and Benac also face a misdemeanor count of illegal method of taking a shark.
The video of the shark being dragged went viral in late July after a Miami sport fisherman criticized it on social media.
In the video released by the FWC, one of the men appears to say "look, it’s already almost dead," while pointing to the shark flopping across the water behind the speeding boat.
Benac, from Bradenton, and Wenzel and Heintz, of Palmetto, face up to five years in prison and up to $10,000 in fines if convicted.