Posted on 02/28/2008 9:02:02 AM PST by kiriath_jearim
The criminal killing of an elk underscores the need to restrict the use of loaded guns in national parks, Chief U.S. District Judge William Downes said Tuesday.
"You took a magnificent bull elk in a United States park, then engaged in acts to cover up your crime," Downes said before sentencing Michael David Belderrain to four years in prison.
"Your case represents a classic public policy answer to the question: 'Why do we not want to have people with indiscriminate access to firearms in a national park?'
"And your crime answers that question," he said. "We don't."
Downes' comment at Belderrain's sentencing hearing in Casper coincides with a growing national debate about the U.S. Department of Interior's proposed review of a ban on loaded guns in national parks and lands administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Supporters have said the ban on loaded guns in national parks infringes on their Second Amendment rights and their ability to defend themselves from human and animal predators. Opponents, including conservation groups and park rangers, have said the ban has made national parks among the safest places in America.
The ban didn't stop Belderrain.
On Dec. 14, 2005, he killed an elk standing in Gallatin County, Mont., just outside the Yellowstone National Park boundary, decapitated it, and dragged the head to his truck inside the park, he said when he changed his plea on Aug. 22.
He could have faced a sentence of between 30 months and 57 months in prison.
On Tuesday, Belderrain's federal public defender, Daniel Blythe, described his client as a person who lived a little on the edge and was impulsive.
On the day of the crime, Blythe said, Belderrain saw the elk walking and he described it as "a beautiful, wonderful elk."
Downes interrupted, saying, "one of the most notable specimens in North America in recent years."
Blythe continued, saying his client acted impulsively when he shot the animal.
Belderrain has a good family, works in a mine and has a good work ethic, Blythe said.
Before Downes imposed the sentence, Belderrain gave a tearful apology as he admitted he deprived others of viewing the elk.
"I do love hunting," he said. "That elk, I did take away from the people. I seen it and I shot it."
Belderrain, 36, has donated more than $50,000 to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation because he wanted to make sure his children have the same privileges he did, he said.
He finally asked for leniency.
Assistant U.S. Attorney John Barksdale, arguing for a stiffer sentence, told Downes the defendant was prohibited from possessing guns and had committed other crimes, including aggravated assault in Sanders County, Mont., in 1999.
The image of Belderrain as impulsive and on the edge did not excuse his behavior, Barksdale said. "He's stepped over the line one too many times."
Downes then imposed the sentence.
After referring to Belderrain's actions as a reason to keep loaded weapons out of national parks, Downes recounted previous, lightly punished criminal behavior such as operating an outfitting business outside the law, alcohol-related crimes, and game and hunting violations.
That history persuaded him to levy a stiff punishment for the current counts, he said.
A light sentence would send the wrong message to prospective offenders that the courts would tolerate committing crimes in a national park in the district of Wyoming, he said.
"You thought you were above the law," Downes said. "This sentence will emphatically teach you (that) you are not above the law."
Besides the 48 months for being a felon in possession of a firearm, and 12 months for the two game violations -- all to be served concurrently -- Downes ordered Belderrain to pay $6,000 in restitution to the Yellowstone National Park Service Restitution Fund, plus a $1,000 fine.
Belderrain has 10 days to file an appeal, and will be able to be on supervised release during the appeal, and for three years after the prison term, Downes said.
Conditions of supervised release include committing no other crimes, not using alcohol or other drugs, not possessing guns, seeking anger management and mental health counseling, and staying out of national parks, he said.
After the sentencing, Blythe said he intends to file an appeal with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on a double-jeopardy issue because Belderrain already had pleaded guilty to the same charges in Montana.
Be glad that persons such as this judge chose to go into law instead of aeronautical engineering. Can you imagine what a plane designed by this clown would look like? We won’t even consider reliability.
I HAVE THE ULTIMATE CONTEMPT FOR HIS COURT
Not much to say here, the facts of the case pretty much contradict the judge’s theories about guns in the park.
You don't say. And removing the ban isn't going to change anything either. Poachers don't care if there is a ban on weapons, they are going to poach anyways.
Poachers should be dealt with harshly thereby creating a deterrent to those with weapons that consider committing the crime of poaching in a NP.
If we restrict the use of loaded guns in national parks, does this mean we will allow unrestricted use of unloaded guns in the parks?
What a waste.
I have owned guns since I was ten years old, and I am an avid hunter and fisherman. What Belderrain did is the exact opposite of the hunting ethic: he disobeyed the law (several of them), and he killed for sport.
He deserves whatever he gets.
Agreed. Not only is he a poacher, but the trophy is all he wanted.
But the judge is a dolt for his additional comments as well.
Okay judge, this applies to bearing arms inside a park how?
We need protection.........all the time.
Jackson, WY is a hotbed of Hollywood liberalism. The local politics are financed by that group and reflects their agenda. Seems the federal judge there is at least sympathetic.
And, the Judge should leave the comments for the legislature.
Sorry, I read where he committted other crimes. He probably deserved the jail time.
WTF?
I believe that was Yosemite.
Yeah, let's slip that in beneath the fold.
Four years. More than the average convicted murderer gets. Anyone planning to sit-out the election to “protest” John McCain? YOU are the reason such judges get appointed to the bench by Liberals. Congratulations.
No one would even suggest impeachment of the judge for judicial excess. Government is an inbred good old boys club no matter what side of the aisle your from.
On Dec. 14, 2005, he killed an elk standing in Gallatin County, Mont., just outside the Yellowstone National Park boundary, decapitated it, and dragged the head to his truck inside the park, he said when he changed his plea on Aug. 22.
He drug the head to his truck. (after I tag it this is what I do 1st) Then go back and get back for the rest of the animal.
Where was he standing when he took the shot? If he was also out side the park, it was a legal shot. I will make the assumption that if he made a legal shot, he was in possession of a license and tag. Any body who gives RMEF 50 grand is most likely NOT a poacher.
Curvy Forest roads zig and zag in and out out the park. He probable did not realise where he was.
The only crime I see is possesing a weapon in a park.
These charges will be dropped because he has already been prosecuted in Montana. DOUBLE JEOPARDY
Several people in this thread are jumping to concusions that maybe invalid as there is not enough info in this article to make a fair judgement.
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