BLM Plays Dick Tracy on Lower Dolores

[boatingshrink]

Bobby Duthie is a boater, an excellent criminal defense attorney, and practices in durango. call him if you need him.

[Jay H]

I'm sure this is a loaded question, or perhaps a moot point, but...I'm curious to know if there were any individuals ticketed that were not participating in the offense.

I realize this is probably a completely hypothetical question, but I'm just wondering because, I cannot imagine barney fife going to any effort whatsoever to determine if anyone might actually not have been participating (there are those who don't--not necessarily me but...), and just ticketing everyone there--and I would certainly hate to see a situation where someone around the campfire got caught up in the dragnet just because they were there.

Obviously it would be difficult to make the case, because of course everyone would say "it wasn't me"--and this is a "he said, barney said" type of case, which as far as I know are pretty impossible to beat, and most likely they wouldn't stand a chance. But I wonder--if there were even one wrongly accused, and it could somehow be vouched for to the satisfaction of the court--maybe that would reflect badly on these clearly overzealous DEA agent wannabes in court?

Probably a stretch, but I'm just curious...and I really hope there isn't a similar trend this weekend in BV

[brendodendo]

A friend of mine got popped in New Mex by the forest service. Federal summons. He called to see if he had to go to court. $25 fine and never had to appear.

Wish you all the best. Get a lawyer and post it. Maybe you can get a group rate.

[mountainfish]

All of these penalties are much more severe then the rangers let on. The rangers told me the max fine was $250 and that was it. No record. This is starting to scare me now. Before I was just pissed. I guess I should look into a lawyer.

[bevin]

My friend who also got a citation, and who sent me the original email that started this thread, called Bobby Duthie in Durango and told him to expect some more calls. Duthie was shocked at what the BLM did, and apparently was impressed by the fact that people were ticketed for smoking even when they had nothing in their possession (this might be a good part of your defense). Mr Duthie said he'd look into the matter, but he's apparently a great guy and a good resource for those in need of an experienced criminal defense lawyer in the Durango area.

Originally Posted by mountainfish

All of these penalties are much more severe then the rangers let on. The rangers told me the max fine was $250 and that was it. No record. This is starting to scare me now. Before I was just pissed. I guess I should look into a lawyer.

[deepsouthpaddler]

I'll second getting a lawyer. Even if its a mellow charge it will go on your record. Depending on what you do for a living this could haunt you in the future. A good defense lawyer might be able to get the charges dropped or lessened so that you don't have to deal with the black mark on your record. Its probably worth the cost/hassle for the lawyer.

[TennesseeMatt]

If you want to get anything done I would suggest that you NOT send 5 emails a day. These people already get a lot of crap in their inboxes and will probably only delete your messages. I would suggest that you write/type a letter and mail it to them the old fashioned way. I believe this is the best way one can voice their concern to federal agencies.

Matt

[Caspian]

I wonder how many people apologized for lambasting the BLM guy who wasn't even there. That might be worth thinking about if you want to have positive relations with the BLM when the next round of public input on new policies happens.

I'm also pretty curious to know what kind of BLM employee issued the citations, because none of the Westwater rangers give those out themselves - they call in the sworn guys from the county or NPS (who seem happy to oblige) to do that.

[mountainfish]

I sent an email today apologizing for my personal lambasting. The BLM employees were BLM Rangers.

[davidlong]

Originally Posted by durangoskiier

'Ranger Rick' at the email above is who I was told to contact. My girlfriend and I were the first victims of the harrassment on Friday night and I sent an email earlier today.

Hi,
My name is David Long and I am doing a story for the Four Corners Free Press about these incidents on the weekend of May 11, etc. I was wondering if you or anyone you know would agrfee to a breeif interview about your experience, especially since you said you were the first victims. If so, my phone number is 970-565-7199 in Cortez, If you'd like to get an idea of what sort of paper the Free Press is, you can go to our web site whose address disappears when I try to write it, so just google four corners free press and chech out our archives. Thanks for your attention.

David Long