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Local environmentalist Rose Chilcoat has filed a civil lawsuit against a Utah rancher and San Juan County officials who accused her of trying to kill cattle two years ago.<\/p>\n
Chilcoat was expected to make a statement about her lawsuit Wednesday in Salt Lake City. Her attorney, Karra Porter, said Wednesday morning the charges against Chilcoat were not based in fact and were politically motivated.<\/p>\n
The rancher, Zane Odell, could not be reached for comment. San Juan County Attorney Kendall Laws was out of the office Wednesday.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere is significant concern that a lot of things were done to Rose Chilcoat simply because of her environmental views,\u201d Porter said.<\/p>\n
In April 2017, Chilcoat and her husband, Mark Franklin, were hit with felony and misdemeanor charges<\/a> after prosecutors said the couple closed the gate to one of Odell\u2019s corrals between Mexican Hat and Bluff with the intent to shut cattle off from access to water.<\/p>\n The San Juan County Attorney\u2019s Office charged Chilcoat with two misdemeanors: one for trespassing on state trust lands and another for providing false information for identifying herself to police using her married name.<\/p>\n Six days after the initial charges were filed, Chilcoat was issued two new felony charges: attempted wanton destruction of livestock and retaliation against a witness for a letter she sent to the Bureau of Land Management about Odell\u2019s cattle operation.<\/p>\n Ultimately, all the charges against Chilcoat were dropped<\/a> by higher courts.<\/p>\n Franklin, however, ended up taking a plea deal<\/a> earlier this month. If he meets several conditions of the deal, including paying a $1,000 fine, all charges will be dropped.<\/p>\n The couple have maintained for the past two years the entire case was brought as a form of retaliation for Chilcoat\u2019s years of environmental work for Great Old Broads for Wilderness<\/a>, which deals with many contentious public lands and grazing issues in San Juan County.<\/p>\n According to the civil lawsuit filed Wednesday, Chilcoat was \u201cvindicated\u201d when the courts dismissed the charges against her.<\/p>\n \u201cIt took more than a year, however, after Ms. Chilcoat was forced to incur substantial defense costs fighting the fabricated allegations,\u201d the complaint said. \u201cThe actions against Ms. Chilcoat violated her constitutional rights and cost her a substantial amount of money, for which this lawsuit seeks redress.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>