Mountain Lion Trial Update: Day 2 : AZ IMC

On Day Two of United States vs. Coronado and Crozier, the prosecution continued to bring witnesses to the stand, mostly to address exactly what they claimed during opening arguements that the trial was NOT about: mountain lions, animal rights, and whether the Forest Service and Game and Fish were doing the right thing. The only other thing that prosecution accomplished was showing that 3 people were in the Sabino Canyon area on March 24, 2004, wearing brownish clothing, and that they may or may not have been digging in the ground near the site of a lion snare and seismic sensor.

The day began with the testimony of the helicopter pilot who had been contracted by Arizona Game and Fish to be on call in case a mountain lion needed to be removed from the area. He described how after agents saw 3 people on a hillside in the canyon area, he took off in his copter with Game and Fish officer John Romero to go find them. Romero was the next to testify, and his story seemed to not match the pilot's, or even his own report that he gave to defense lawyers previously. During cross-examination, defense attorney Sean Bruner spent a long time trying to understand how Romero could tell that the 3 individuals he saw from the helicopter were digging and yet, as he admitted, could not see their hands or any dirt being pushed around. Romero stuck by this illogical position till everyone else lost patience and interest.

Next on the witness stand was Joshua David Taiz, a biologist with the Forest Service. The prosecution used him to once again dwell on how important it was to take care of the scary, dangerous mountain lion problem in Sabino Canyon.

Just before the 3:00 recess, after letting the jury go, the judge seemed impatient and reprimanded the defense, which was in the middle of cross-examining Mr. Taiz, for taking so long to talk about something that was tangential to the case, the lions and the justification for killing and trapping them. Defense attorney Bruner, replied that it was the prosecutor that was bringing in the irrelevant witnesses. "I don't know what this has to do with the prosecution." "I don't either," said the judge.

The prosecution finished up the day with testimony from Sam Derringer, the government hunter who'd been in charge of the snares, then a Forest Service special agent, and another Forest Service officer, Margaret Strong. Finally the jury was dismissed and the judge and counsel argued for 45 more minutes about whether prosecution could admit as evidence the tape recorded by John Richardson, the Esquire reporter who was with the accused. The defense's position was that the tape was not admissable because Richardson was not proven to be part of the 'conspiracy', but prosecutor Kleindienst claimed that Richardson was a participant, because he ran from the helicopter! Kleindienst, getting very animated at this stage in the discussion, also claimed that part of the Earth First! conspiracy was to use the media to sway public opinion, and that "this case is really about protesting with criminal intent."

The judge decided that an edited version of the tape would be admissable, and that after editing it would be played for the jury Friday afternoon.

The trial will resume Friday at 9am, with a recess between 12 and 2 and then continuing till 5. The defendants welcome community supporters to be present, at the Tucson Federal Courthouse, 6th Floor, courtroom 6B.

And of course, while the trial drags on, Sabino the lionness continues her incarceration at a wildlife rehabilitation center in Scotsdale, where she was sent without a trial of any kind.

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