Infamous Idaho Killer Claude Dallas to Be Released From Prison After Nearly Two Decades

ap.tbo.com ^ | :Feb 5, 2005 | John Miller

[foolscap]

OWYHEE COUNTY, Idaho (AP) - Idaho's most infamous outlaw, Claude Dallas, killed two state officers in a remote desert 24 years ago in a crime that brought him notoriety as both a callous criminal and a modern-day mountain man at odds with the government. Now a bespectacled 54-year-old, Dallas is to be released from prison Sunday after serving nearly 22 years for the execution-style slayings of Conley Elms and Bill Pogue, officers for the Idaho Department of Fish and Game.

The case has been among the most polarizing in Idaho history, with some expressing disgust at how Dallas has gained a measure of folk-hero status among those who rally against the establishment.

Some compared him to Gordon Kahl, a tax-evader killed by U.S. marshals in North Dakota in 1983; to Randy Weaver, the protagonist in the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff; or even to Timothy McVeigh, the Oklahoma City bomber.

"Those cases always end up getting connected after the fact," said Jess Walter, the Spokane, Wash.-based author of a book about Weaver. "But at the time, they were just having trouble with law enforcement."

Dallas' 1986 jailbreak only heightened the legend perpetuated by his friends, that his rugged lifestyle got crossways with a heavy-handed U.S. government. Dallas hid for nearly a year before he was caught and sent back to prison.

"It's sure an emotional issue, and his release has heightened those emotions," said Jon Heggen, head of the Fish and Game Department's enforcement bureau. "There's been a lot of tears shed the last two weeks."

Dallas' 30-year sentence was cut by eight years for good behavior.

He was convicted of manslaughter in 1982 for shooting the officers, who had entered his winter camp on the South Fork of the Owyhee River, one of the West's least-populated regions, to investigate reports of illegal trapping.

Jim Stevens, a friend of Dallas who was visiting the camp, witnessed the killings.

According to evidence at the trial, Pogue, who had drawn his own weapon, was hit first with a shot from Dallas' handgun. Dallas then shot Elms two times in the chest as the warden emerged from the trapper's tent, where he'd found poached bobcats.

Dallas then used a rifle to fire one round into each man's head.

The 28-day trial made national headlines, with Dallas claiming the game wardens were out to get him. A group of women - who became known as the "Dallas Cheerleaders" - gathered daily to support him.

A jury of 10 women and two men acquitted Dallas of murder, finding him guilty of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter instead.

"We remain horrified somebody could have gotten manslaughter for cruelly killing our people, and then following it up with shots from a .22 rifle," said former Fish and Game Director Jerry Conley, who testified at Dallas' sentencing.

But one of Dallas' lawyers, Bill Mauk, still sees Dallas as a victim: He fired on the officers after his privacy had been violated and after he was threatened by government agents enforcing game laws he didn't believe applied to him.

Jury foreman Milo M. Moore, a retired shopkeeper, said Dallas might have been freed outright if he hadn't used his .22 caliber rifle. Moore said testimony about Pogue's reputation as a tough-guy lawman influenced the verdict.

"We felt it was self-defense up to a certain point," Moore said in a recent interview. "Had he not shot them in the head, it would have been a different verdict."

Moore said Pogue had come "gunning" for the poacher, and said Pogue was on trial in some jurors' minds more than Dallas.

Dallas' story inspired a television movie, and writer Jack Olsen chronicled the crime in a book called "Give a Boy a Gun."

"Claude Dallas," a ballad written by singer-songwriters Ian Tyson and Tom Russell, and sung by Tyson, romanticizes Dallas' lifestyle and life on the lam, saying: "It took 18 men and 15 months to finally run Claude down. In the sage outside of paradise, they drove him to the ground."

Kevin Kempf, the warden at the Idaho Correctional Institution at Orofino, where Dallas has been since Jan. 15 when he was moved from a Kansas prison, won't say where Dallas will be released.

"He's prepared," Kempf said. "It doesn't appear he's going to be leaving our facility without any direction or without a plan."

Dallas did not respond to interview requests from The Associated Press.

[marktwain]

A jury of 10 women and two men acquitted Dallas of murder, finding him guilty of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter instead.

I will never understand how a murderer can ever go free.

As noted above, the jury did not find him guilty of murder. As I stated earlier, the jury was appalled at the severity of the sentence that the judge gave him.

I find that juries almost always do quite well. Obviously, this is not absolute, especially in cases where the Judge withholds important information from the Jury. But, from everything I have read about this case, the Jury made an informed decision.

[brushcop]

Marktwain: one of the best accounts of this incident was "Give a Boy a Gun" by Jack Olsen. Olsen is good at digging up facts. The "community" was basically Paradise Hill and to learn about it, read the book. This "mountain man" crap is just that, crap.

Olsen's book also puts human faces on wardens Pogue and Elms. At the time, I was co-editing "The Texas Game Warden", a TX game warden association magazine and had close contact w/Owyhee County prosecutors who predicted that the "mountain man" would eventually be captured and that it would most likely be in a city where he had support, a place to live and convenient food and that's exactly what happened.

After pursuing and capturing all sorts of poachers for 31 years I can tell you that it's no joke going up alone (usually) against serveral (usually) violators who are into their cups (usually) and feeling pretty macho. Overbearing game wardens? I dunno, I've experienced some pretty overbearing poachers myself. After it's all over, you are usually battling the lies of several individuals in court.

I'm out of it now and while there are some officers who no doubt use bad judgement, it sure feels great not being slammed and insulted and that includes my family too, especially in the tiny rural towns that we usually live in. Oh yes, we do have great support, mainly by sportsmen, true sportsmen that is, and I say that loud and clear, God bless 'em.

We had a ride-out system and sometimes I would take the loudest mouth I could find for a night patrol and by the time it was over I would find that he sucked up half his seatcover and really nothing happened on most of those patrols, it was the realization that one had to be ready for anything and self-reliant because help was not going to get to you in time, regardless.

RB

[Ghengis]

I think of this story each time I see the movie, Death Hunt, with Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson. And vice versa.

The community seemed to have a bead on the respective characters of the players involved. The community showed an empathy for Dallas' actions, but did not opt for complete exoneration.

Quite often in these types of stories, the MSM does not work very hard to get the complete story out for us to study and digest. There's a mix of good and bad people who work in law enforcement, just like there are good and bad people in the general population.

I think it is obvious that the one Game Officer's history gave the jury serious thoughts as to how they may have reacted if placed in Mr. Dallas' shoes.

[Theodore R.]

Is "conservative" ID another one of those unexpectedly "soft-on-crime" states?

[oldfart]

If I remember correctly, and that's a big IF, those .22 shots to the head were to put them out of their misery. He realized they were dying already and he just wanted to end their suffering. Hunters do that all the time to other animals they've shot. I suppose there are those who will say that he shouldn't have treated the wardens as merely 'animals,' but we weren't there, were we? Maybe that's the way they were acting before he shot them.
By the way, does anybody keep score on the number of law enforcement officers who are cleared of any wrongdoing for shooting an unarmed citizen because they 'thought he was going for a gun?'

[WFTR]

And the dead are still dead. I will never understand how a murderer can ever go free. Actually how they are allowed to live.

I wonder the same thing every time I see a thread on Michael Shiavo and Judge Greer down in Florida.

Bill

[Ibredd]

Mercy shots you don't leave things to suffer when you are in the out back and no help is near by.

[marktwain]

Marktwain: one of the best accounts of this incident was "Give a Boy a Gun" by Jack Olsen. Olsen is good at digging up facts. The "community" was basically Paradise Hill and to learn about it, read the book.

Thank you for your suggestion. I have already read the book.

I am not saying that Pogue acted illegitimately, or that Dallas did not make mistakes.

I have said that I think this was a tragic situation that resulted from both sides not being willing to bend a little more. I believe that if things had been handled just a little differently, Dallas would have been fined and released, and Pogue and Elms would be alive and well.

It seems to me that Elms was the most innocent victim in this case.

Weird things do happen, and wardens occasionally get shot. Considering that they are very often dealing with armed people in the middle of nowhere, the rarity of this occurrence is a tribute to the self control of most hunters.

I can not talk to your 31 years of experience, but from my personal experience a great number of the wardens that I dealt with had little sense of proportion, and were quite willing to violate the law in small ways that they were willing to arrest and fine people for who were not wardens.

I remember one sanctimonious warden who told me how important it was to be above reproach, who routinely sold confiscated game and fish to the DA, judges, and other warden's wives at below market prices. This same guy went to the trouble of having a state empoyee smoke confiscated sturgeon for the local judge, because, as he told me, "it just might make the difference in a close case".

So, perhaps you can see why I am willing to entertain the possibility that Pogue could have acted in a way that was not the most prudent.

[MARTIAL MONK]

There's a lot of guys who buy too much into the mountain man persona but the west is about what you are, not what you were. Sam Steiger, the old horsetrader and congressman comes to mind. He was from New York City.

There has always been tension between the people of the west and the law. That is what the Sagebrush Rebellion was all about. That didn't happen without some justification.

Like I said the other day, Dallas could drink himself from Sweetgrass to Nogales and never spend a dime of his own money. It's not that anyone wanted something like this to happen and most wish it hadn't, but it did. Every man who ever jacklighted a deer in hard times can see himself in Dallas' shoes.

[Sarajevo]

Randy Weaver, the protagonist in the 1992 Ruby Ridge standoff. I've met Randy Weaver. I found him to be a very down to earth guy. He was set up in a serious FBI/ATF/LEO bungle that quickly escalated into hysteria. Research the history of the "Ruby Ridge" incident.

Dallas has chosen to decide for himself what laws to obey and what laws not to obey. Maybe when he's released, he'll run into somebody else who's chosen similarly. Didn't Clinton do the same during his administration?

Hey, San Francisco's Mayor Gavin Newsom does the same thing only he imposes his decisions on the populace. This is typical of all government officials. They are only deprived of their position of office(i.e. they are peaceably removed), the rest of us are deprived of life, liberty, and property.

I'm all for freedom too but you can't kill cops just because they're doing their job. This heavy-handedness is NOT a part of the job of Fish and Game. Commercial poachers are one issue, a man attempting to feed himself is another. This individual was apparently not on Welfare Roles, nor collecting any type of government handouts. He was just trying to survive.

Too bad this outlaw you are celebrating did not go after your kinfolks, or steal property you are concerned about...I doubt you would be so jubilant as to post the songs of misguided and fame seeking poets...but then again it is free speech isn't it. He did not go after anyone's kinfolks. He was only trying to put meat on his table. Yes, it is "Freedom Of Speech"!

I wonder why it is so easy for some to take for granted the life of those who serve the public? Will those servants treat the value of your life so vainly on the day that you really need them. I hope not. Yes, they will. Read about the "Assault on Ruby Ridge". Better yet, read about the travesties of your local SWAT teams or LEO's.

We would be far better served to pull together against evil in what ever form it appears. If you don't like the law, work to change it for the common good. Don't support the killing of men and women who do the job so many others won't. That is a simplistic view of today's government, where anyone can be found guilty of a meaningless crime and sentenced to jail. Watch your daily local MSM.

I rather doubt this is a self-defense matter. Police routinely draw their weapons especially when it was obvious that the suspect was wearing a pistol while being guilty of a crime. Uhhhh, ever hear of the Second Amendment??? "According to evidence at the trial, Pogue, who had drawn his own weapon, was hit first with a shot from Dallas' handgun. Dallas then shot Elms two times in the chest as the warden emerged from the trapper's tent". Was a search warrant presented? Why did the LEO's "draw first?" Y'know, if I wear a pistol while owning more than 4 adult animals without a permit in the city of San Antonio, I am guilty of a similar offense. Stupid, isn't it?

Because most of the time these days they are not "serving the public." They are unionized gun grabbing, child grabbing, property grabbing thugs. Frankly, the more of them go home in bags the better. I must agree with your assessment. I have seen too many issues of LEO's who want nothing more than to take down a "suspect" in order to impound and sell his property for their personal gain. Let us not be too hasty though. There are still those out there who WILL "Serve and Protect".

Dallas became a folk hero to every manjack who could see himself, through an unfortunate series of happenstance, in the same position. Relations with the government are tenuous at best in the backcountry. Throw in an overbearing Warden and it's explosive., Absolutely!

I will state, here and now, that the execution method of placing two shots into the heads of the LEO's was extreme. The issue of the LEO who attempted to cower a "suspect" through the use of violence is also extreme. By reading the article, the "accused" was not a dangerous suspect who warranted the tactics as described.

I believe in the motto "To Serve and Protect", yet there are many in the echelons of government and law enforcement who would twist this motto to fulfill their own gains.

foolscap, this rant is not directed at you as the poster of this article

[MissAmericanPie]

Kind of like our politicians and their decision to ignore our immigration laws? So, it's okay to be free, just as long as you are not too free.

[brushcop]

Yes and those are good points. What is interesting in our case (Texas), is that approx. 97% of the land is privately owned and yet, game wardens enjoy an unprecedented amount of support by landowners here, as well as from sportsmen who pay most of the bills. We are still pretty grassroots here, matter of fact, I was trying to make inroads in the San Antonio Sierra Club to see if there was any common ground. Nope, there wasn't and I was perceived as being the sportsman's lapdog. Their minds were made up and they too have their little play book with their favorite mantras that they spout.

We created a "non-game" stamp for non-hunters and birdwatchers to purchase in order to contribute to the many conservation projects we have going. It generally features some protected bird and was a collectible stamp in the true sense. The stamp program has never paid for itself much less generate any meaningful funds for real needs. So, who puts their money where their mouths are? Sportsmen.

And everyone who has spotlighted a deer knew the chances he was taking, right? This isn't the 1800s or the depression. In Texas we have a very long deer season with four (and more) deer tags available, how much more time or bag limit does a person need?

[snarks_when_bored]

By failing to stop the invasion of our country by illegal immigrants, politicians (most of them, anyway) are doing wrong. On that we agree.

You also write this: "So, it's okay to be free, just as long as you are not too free." That, of course, is correct, too. Individual freedom and social order are always engaged in a pas de deux: too much individual freedom undermines the benefits of social order, too little individual freedom makes the price of social order too high.

[zlala]

finding him guilty of the lesser charge of voluntary manslaughter instead.

Yup and that means the men are less dead.

[MissAmericanPie]

When a man can't choose to turn his back on society and go live in the woods then the price for social order has become too high in the opinion of the jury.

[snarks_when_bored]

The days of retreating to the woods and doing whatever the hell you want to do are mostly gone now. Even the super-rich who buy hundreds of thousands of acres are subject to the rules and regulations of 'the commons'.

There are two things I can't stomach about this case: (1) Dallas thought that he could do whatever he wanted to do, including draw his weapon and fire at law officers while they were attempting to detain him (I don't expect you'll defend this behavior); (2) Dallas decided not just to wound the officers but to then go ahead and take their lives (a cold-blooded choice that should have insured his execution for capital murder, in my view).

[Ibredd]

One has to realize there are two things that will get you killed in this country. One is finding a way to live with no income so therefore not paying any taxes to the feds. The other is defending your self any six year with a water pistol had better know this.

[marktwain]

There are two things I can't stomach about this case: (1) Dallas thought that he could do whatever he wanted to do, including draw his weapon and fire at law officers while they were attempting to detain him (I don't expect you'll defend this behavior); (2) Dallas decided not just to wound the officers but to then go ahead and take their lives (a cold-blooded choice that should have insured his execution for capital murder, in my view).

You would have a point, except that you are very likely wrong about the facts. According to most people who knew Dallas, he did not believe that he could "do whatever he wanted", but in fact lived by a pretty strict moral code.

It also seems pretty likely that the officers were dying when Dallas delivered the Coup de Grace, although this is not clear.

It was not a jury of Southern California liberals who found that Dallas did not murder the officers in cold blood; it was some pretty hard headed jurors from Idaho. They heard a lot more evidence than either you or I have, and I respect their judgment.

[GladesGuru]

"Maybe you are right about game wardens...maybe they do have "heavy hands"...but I've not read about them shooting and killing too many people."

Come to the Sheeple's Republic of FloriDUH - a man in a kayak was reported to be shooting at pelicans with a pellet pistol. A boat of armed and armored WardenPersons from the FloriDUH Wildlife Conservation Commission approached the kayak while one of their aircraft was overhead.

Upon coming alongside the kayak, they riddled the kayaker and his boat with bullets.

Ironically, neither the WardenPersons nor the pelicans was in any real danger. The WardenPersons were wearing body armor and the pelicans were dressed in their usual feathers which are thick enough to stop most pellets fired from most pellet pistols.

The law enforcement "investigation" has been slow and no real data has been released yet. Perhaps they are still looking for the 7' tall, bearded Arab which rumor has was also in the same, small, one man kayak. </sarcasm off>

The day when Florida's wardens went into the woods with a revolver and brought out armed poachers all on their own, and miles from any backup is over. Revolvers were exchanged for Glocks and infantry rifles with selective fire capability.

Now, FloriDUH has not only WardenPersons armed to the teeth, but even the pollution police, code enforcement inspectors, dog catchers, ad nauseam - all are packing heat. Do they really think an oil spill will run away?

Will contaminated soil escape if not under the watchful eye and raised gun of some "pollution pistolero"??

In any case, come to FloriDUH where all officials are funnier than a song by Paul Shanklin. Just remember to up your insurance before you come and don't forget to don your bullet proof full body armor before crossing the border into FloriDUH.

[Churchillspirit]

I believe he threatened to kill several people involved in his conviction including the judge, prosecutor and sheriff's deputies ( a friend of mine was one of the arresting officers).

When he escaped from prison they were all given police protection - I hope that will happen again when this guy is released.