The convictions of two protest riders in southern Utah’s Recapture Canyon were upheld this week by the Denver Federal Appeals Court. The court refused to overturn the misdemeanor convictions of Phil Lyman and blogger Monte Wells who rode their ATVs in protest after the government closed the canyon to motor vehicles to protect nearly 2,000 year old ruins.
The federal court turned aside the arguments that their trial was tainted by the judge’s friendship with a conservation group attorney. Lymon was a Utah county commissioner who became something of a celebrity over his challenge of the federal government’s management of public lands.
Their protest ride happened in 2014 following the government standoff with Nevada rancher Cliven Bundy. But the 10th Circuit ruled that U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby did not treat Lyman and Wells unfairly and recused himself after their attorneys protested his friendship with the legal director of the Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance.
Lyman acted as his own owner and argued his ride was a legal expression of frustration with the influence of environmentalists over U.S. land managers. He was sentenced to 10 days in jail and ordered to pay $96,000 in restitution. Wells got five days in jail
Wells said he’s disappointed in the ruling in the case that he calls emblematic of frustrations over federal management of public land.
“To me, Recapture is the key because it stands for everything that they’re doing,” he said, adding that the road had long seen hard use and the decision to close it to motor vehicles was arbitrary.
Lyman was sentenced to 10 days in jail and to pay $96,000 in restitution, while Wells got five days in jail.