Federal District Judge Orders Wolf Trespassing Case to Federal Court

May 12, 2004

U.S. District Judge Alan Johnson has ordered the criminal trespass case filed against USFWS wolf manager for Wyoming, Mike Jimenez, to federal court, which seems just given the unlikelihood of getting a fair jury trial in a Party County, Wyoming court. The issue of which court is not totally settled, however, because the Park County prosecuter, Brian Skoric, seems to want to make this a cause celeb, and is struggling to retain jurisdiction (see second article).

It has been, and remains my view, that this is a trumped-up case, inspired solely by a desire for local publicity and legal harassment of one of the best wolf managers in the United States.

May 11, 2004. Story from the Billings Gazette, "Judge orders wolf trespassing case to federal court. " Associated Press.
May 12, 2004. Wolf case becomes battle of which court. By Allison Batdorff. Billings Gazette Wyoming Bureau

 

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Earlier stories on this. April 17, with my editorial update on April 26.