Mountain Lion Courtroom Update: Day one : AZ IMC

Rod and Matt’s trial finally began Wednesday afternoon after jury selection was completed shortly before 3:00.

The trial immediately started with the prosecution’s opening arguments. The government stated that it wasn’t the hunt that was on trial, but rather whether or not Rod and Matt entered the canyon to “disrupt, interfere or impede people who were trying to do their job.” He went on to say that Rod and Matt had crossed the bounds of free speech and “went over into lawlessness.”

Prosecution then spent quite some time talking about the buildup to the lion hunt and the hunt itself – even though they claimed that the hunt wasn’t on trial.

Rod Coronado’s lawyer then made opening statements saying that this would be a political case, stating that the majority of the Government’s evidence would be classified as free speech – although it may be unpopular speech. But the evidence would not be proof of criminal activity.

Matt’s lawyer then finished the closing arguments by saying that the prosecution will attempt to parade witnesses to the stand to get the jury’s emotions fired up, but that the government has no evidence to actually back up their charges. He claimed that the government cannot back up the conspiracy charges because they cannot prove that Matt agreed with Rod on anything. That just because you think you might be violating a law doesn’t mean you are violating a law. And that the sensor that Matt and Rod allegedly destroyed was owned by Arizona Game and Fish, a state agency, not the Forest Service, so it cannot fall under the federal court’s jurisdiction.

The first witness the prosecution called was a cafeteria worker from a middle school near Sabino Canyon. She testified she saw a mountain lion outside the window of her cafeteria some time in the past year, but couldn’t remember when. Prosecution also entered a picture of a mountain lion into evidence.

Then the government called an HR employee from the Blake Foundation to the stand to testify that Matthew Crozier indeed had a job with them from March of 2002 until May of 2003. His employment application, a photo copy of the ID and his termination report were all entered into evidence.

The prosecution’s third witness was a resident of a foothills community on Alvernon about a mile from the Finger Rock trailhead. He testified that he saw a mountain lion in his neighbor’s driveway and then spoke with a Game and Fish officer about it.

By the end of the third witness, it was nearly 5:00 pm, so the court recessed for the night.

Proceedings are expected to last through Monday of next week in the Federal Courthouse building on the 6th floor.