{"id":59491,"date":"2018-05-11T16:56:45","date_gmt":"2018-05-11T22:56:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/trial-moved-for-couple-accused-of-attempting-to-kill-cattle\/"},"modified":"2018-05-11T22:56:45","modified_gmt":"2018-05-11T22:56:45","slug":"trial-moved-for-couple-accused-of-attempting-to-kill-cattle","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/trial-moved-for-couple-accused-of-attempting-to-kill-cattle\/","title":{"rendered":"Trial moved for couple accused of attempting to kill cattle"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"Rose
Rose Chilcoat and her husband, Mark Franklin, are scheduled for trial May 23 on charges stemming from an incident in April 2017 in San Juan County, Utah, where the couple closed a gate to a corral.<\/span>Courtesy of Andrew Gulliford<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

Two Durango environmentalists who face charges for supposedly trying to kill cattle by closing a corral gate will have their trials moved to a new venue after a judge ruled they wouldn\u2019t receive a fair trial in San Juan County.<\/p>\n

Seventh Judicial District Judge Lyle Anderson ruled Thursday that a change of venue was warranted for the May 23 trial for Rose Chilcoat and her husband, Mark Franklin because the jury pool in San Juan County would be tainted in light of its grudge against the Great Old Broads for Wilderness, where Chilcoat once worked as an activist.<\/p>\n

The two-day trial will now take place in Price, Utah.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf jurors and prospective jurors know defendants are associated with the Great Old Broads,\u201d Anderson wrote, \u201cit is difficult to see how this court can seat an impartial jury.\u201d<\/p>\n

Efforts to reach Chilcoat on Friday were unsuccessful.<\/p>\n

Chilcoat and Franklin were charged in April 2017 after a rancher reported the couple trespassed onto his property between Bluff and Mexican Hat and closed a gate to a corral with the intent to cut his cattle off from water.<\/p>\n

Defense attorneys have tried to have the case dismissed, saying it stems from Chilcoat\u2019s work with Great Old Broads, an environmental activist group active in San Juan County.<\/p>\n

The decision to move the trial out of San Juan County is a victory for the couple, who have said the charges are an attempt at retaliation against Chilcoat for her activist work.<\/p>\n

Defense attorneys pointed to a recent poll in San Juan County that found 75 percent of residents are familiar with the Great Old Broads, and of that amount, 75 percent had a \u201cvery unfavorable\u201d view. About 200 people were surveyed.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is safe to say that environmentalists like Rose Chilcoat are disliked in San Juan County,\u201d her attorney wrote.<\/p>\n

Her attorneys told of numerous conflicts between Chilcoat and the Great Old Broads with San Juan County residents.<\/p>\n

In 2010, the Great Old Broads were on a field survey in Recapture Canyon when they found signs with a skull and crossbones that read, \u201cWanted dead or alive: Great Old Broads for Wilderness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Two years later, the Great Old Broads claimed locals threatened their group at a campground in Indian Creek when someone hung a \u201chag\u201d mask on a fence doused in blood with \u201cStay out of San Juan County. No last chance,\u201d written on it.<\/p>\n

Defense attorneys say San Juan County residents blame Chilcoat for orchestrating a ban on ATVs in 2014 in Recapture Canyon. The incident led to an illegal ride through the canyon, headed by County Commissioner Phil Lyman.<\/p>\n

Lyman, an influential figure in San Juan County, was sentenced to 10 days in jail and fined $1,000. He has blamed Chilcoat for the incident, calling her \u201ca manipulator and a reprobate\u201d and \u201cevil.\u201d<\/p>\n

Chilcoat and Franklin\u2019s attorneys highlighted the vitriolic, even physical threats found on blogs such as The Free Range Report and The Petroglyph, the latter of which is run by San Juan County resident Monte Wells.<\/p>\n

Wells wrote that Chilcoat\u2019s actions were a felony, and that \u201cnot long ago she would have been hung from the nearest tree for trying to harm cattle. She should feel lucking (sic).\u201d<\/p>\n

Ed Black commented, \u201cString that (expletive) up.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe recent threats alone provide ample justification for a change of venue in this case,\u201d the defense wrote.<\/p>\n

San Juan County Attorney Kendall Laws, prosecuting the case, filed a motion to deny the change of venue.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is difficult to fathom that there are not at least eight individuals out of over 15,000 who can be fair and impartial,\u201d he wrote.<\/p>\n

Aside from Anderson approving to move the trial, Chilcoat and Franklin have been dealt a series of defeats in the case over the past few months.<\/p>\n

The couple challenged Anderson\u2019s decision to send the case to trial, to no avail.<\/p>\n

And Anderson ruled that Laws did not have to recuse himself after the prosecutor agreed to remove himself on April 18. The defense said Laws, who is friends with Lyman and Wells, is under pressure to take down Chilcoat. He has denied the claim.<\/p>\n

About the same time, Laws offered Chilcoat and Franklin a plea agreement that he later rescinded. Prosecutors offered to drop all Chilcoat\u2019s charges and reduce Franklin\u2019s from a felony to a misdemeanor. Defense attorneys accepted Chilcoat\u2019s offer and said they would take Franklin\u2019s case to court.<\/p>\n

Prosecutors argued the offer was a package deal and promptly rescinded it, with Anderson\u2019s approval.<\/p>\n

Now, Chilcoat and Franklin will head to court to challenge one second-degree felony, wanton destruction of livestock and trespassing on trust lands, a misdemeanor. They face up to 20 years in prison.<\/p>\n

Chilcoat was originally charged with two other offenses: providing officers with her maiden name and submitting a complaint to the Bureau of Land Management about the rancher, Zane Odell.<\/p>\n

Chilcoat had filed a complaint with the BLM after the gate incident that said Odell could be overgrazing on his allotment and excavating without permission. Prosecutors interpreted the complaint as an retaliation against a witness. Both charges have been dropped.<\/p>\n

The couple enlisted attorney Paul Cassell, a former federal prosecutor who served from 2002 to 2007 as a U.S. District Court judge. He now is a professor of law at the University of Utah and is considered an expert on criminal justice.<\/p>\n

Cassell argues that the charges are a violation of First Amendment rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe prosecution in this case \u2013 one aimed at silencing an environmental activist and her husband by threat of criminal prosecution and imprisonment \u2013 is an attack on those fundamental rights,\u201d Cassell wrote in a court filing.<\/p>\n

On April 1, 2017, Odell noticed the gate to a corral closed, as well as tire tracks. The incident was reportedly recorded on a trail camera at the corral.<\/p>\n

Two days later, Odell noticed the vehicle passing by that had been caught on camera and notified the San Juan County Sheriff\u2019s Office. Officers stopped the couple, and Franklin admitted to closing the gate.<\/p>\n

The deputies let Chilcoat and Franklin go. Nine days later, however, charges against the couple were filed.<\/p>\n

Chilcoat and Franklin have maintained there was a wide opening in the fence that still allowed cattle access to water.<\/p>\n

Odell acknowledge the opening existed, but argued the couple\u2019s critical views of grazing on public lands was the impetus for closing the gate, hoping cattle would die.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

bias in San Juan County would create unfair trial<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":59492,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[28,29],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-59491","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-headlines","tag-newsletter"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59491","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=59491"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/59491\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/59492"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=59491"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=59491"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=59491"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=59491"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}