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http://www.sltrib.com/news/ci_8927973
Federal sentence
Off-roader vows fight for 'rights'
Dan Jessop plans to appeal verdict for violating road closure
By Mark Havnes
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 04/15/2008 11:42:32 AM MDT
ST. GEORGE - He's been found guilty of driving an off-highway vehicle on a government-closed road. Now, he's been fined $300 and placed on six months' probation.
But Dan M. Jessop hasn't coughed up a cent - doesn't intend to, either.
"I don't think the sentence was fair, based on the merits of the case and the law," Jessop said Monday after being sentenced by federal Magistrate Robert Braithwaite.
So the Washington County resident is fighting the fine and has more than $30,000 in donations from sympathetic off-roaders throughout the West to fund his legal battle against the misdemeanor.
"I appreciate the support," said Jessop, who has become a symbol in the ATV crowd's fight against off-road restrictions.
Jessop's St. George attorney, Michael Shaw, said his client plans to appeal to U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City. And Braithwaite indicated he will stay the sentence once those papers are filed.
In May 2006, Jessop was cited for driving an OHV on Sawmill Road in Washington County south of Zion National Park. He argues the road is a county one and that the Bureau of Land Management had no authority to close it.
The BLM counters that the closure is valid because the road winds through a wilderness study area on agency property.
During Monday's sentencing, when Shaw tried to argue against the guilty decision, Braithwaite cut him off, saying he did not want to rehear the case.
"When the BLM raises the validity of their right to close the road, they have jurisdiction and don't have to prove it," Shaw said afterward. "But [Jessop] doesn't have the same right to [challenge] it. This is one man's fight to protect all our rights."
Tri-State ATV Club's Larry Bowden, who attended Monday's sentencing, said his group has sought to reopen Sawmill Road for years and blames its closure, in 1980, on environmentalists.
"I'm sick and tired of environmentalists running the country," Bowden said. "We're [club members] doing more for the environment than the environmentalists. We go out two or three times a year cleaning up trash."
But environmental groups maintain federal land managers have the authority to create wilderness study areas and close roads inside them.
The defendant's uncle, Richard Jessop, called Braithwaite's sentence a "blatant miscarriage of justice."
"It's a violation of constitutional rights of every person in the country," Richard Jessop said.
mhavnes@sltrib.com
Federal sentence
Off-roader vows fight for 'rights'
Dan Jessop plans to appeal verdict for violating road closure
By Mark Havnes
The Salt Lake Tribune
Article Last Updated: 04/15/2008 11:42:32 AM MDT
ST. GEORGE - He's been found guilty of driving an off-highway vehicle on a government-closed road. Now, he's been fined $300 and placed on six months' probation.
But Dan M. Jessop hasn't coughed up a cent - doesn't intend to, either.
"I don't think the sentence was fair, based on the merits of the case and the law," Jessop said Monday after being sentenced by federal Magistrate Robert Braithwaite.
So the Washington County resident is fighting the fine and has more than $30,000 in donations from sympathetic off-roaders throughout the West to fund his legal battle against the misdemeanor.
"I appreciate the support," said Jessop, who has become a symbol in the ATV crowd's fight against off-road restrictions.
Jessop's St. George attorney, Michael Shaw, said his client plans to appeal to U.S. District Court in Salt Lake City. And Braithwaite indicated he will stay the sentence once those papers are filed.
In May 2006, Jessop was cited for driving an OHV on Sawmill Road in Washington County south of Zion National Park. He argues the road is a county one and that the Bureau of Land Management had no authority to close it.
The BLM counters that the closure is valid because the road winds through a wilderness study area on agency property.
During Monday's sentencing, when Shaw tried to argue against the guilty decision, Braithwaite cut him off, saying he did not want to rehear the case.
"When the BLM raises the validity of their right to close the road, they have jurisdiction and don't have to prove it," Shaw said afterward. "But [Jessop] doesn't have the same right to [challenge] it. This is one man's fight to protect all our rights."
Tri-State ATV Club's Larry Bowden, who attended Monday's sentencing, said his group has sought to reopen Sawmill Road for years and blames its closure, in 1980, on environmentalists.
"I'm sick and tired of environmentalists running the country," Bowden said. "We're [club members] doing more for the environment than the environmentalists. We go out two or three times a year cleaning up trash."
But environmental groups maintain federal land managers have the authority to create wilderness study areas and close roads inside them.
The defendant's uncle, Richard Jessop, called Braithwaite's sentence a "blatant miscarriage of justice."
"It's a violation of constitutional rights of every person in the country," Richard Jessop said.
mhavnes@sltrib.com
