DeChristopher to Assert New Defense in Utah Oil Auction Case. By Paul Foy, AP, December 1, 2009. "The federal government has acknowledged it never prosecuted anyone who failed to pay a bid for drilling rights in Utah until a college student offered his bogus bids in an act of environmental defiance. The admission is giving defense lawyers for Tim DeChristopher hope they can get the two felony charges against him dismissed based on an argument of selective prosecution. DeChristopher has said he offered bids last December that he couldn't cover to protect public lands between Arches and Canyonlands national parks in Utah, and to draw attention to climate change. Federal prosecutors said Tuesday they had disclosed a number of cases where drilling companies or land agents made bids at Utah auctions they didn't cover financially [but were not prosecuted]. The reasons weren't immediately clear... Prosecutors said they were owning up to the fact [but] it doesn't prevent them from prosecuting DeChristopher... 'There's people who didn't have the money -- but they didn't have the intent to disrupt' the auction, assistant U.S. attorney John Huber said."
2009-12-04
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