Sabino Canyon Trial Update: Day 4, Monday December 12, 2005 : AZ IMC

Tuesday morning saw the conclusion of testimony and evidence presentation for the Sabino Canyon mountain lion case. The prosecution finished with Special Agent Doak Malik and defense cross-examined. Crozier's attorney, Sean Bruner, spent some time going over the notes take by Malik and his partner, during their interrogation of Matt Crozier. Agent Malik first made it clear that he preferred the word "interview," and that it was FBI policy to not tape-record the interviews they had with suspects. Bruner pointed out to Agent Malik that in the notes of his partner, Agent Nowak, there are a few mentions of the ground sensor, and a line that said, "Damaging the sensor was a spur-of-the-moment decision." Bruner also pointed out that under the word "sensor," the word "snare" was written, in someone else's handwriting.

"Could this be your handwriting, Agent Malik?" "It could be mine." "Isn't it true, Agent Malik, that after finding that the sensor was not federal property and the snare was, you added, "snare" to your notes and report as an afterthought?" Agent Malik refused to admit this. "Isn't it true that you're taught [In FBI training] not to use a tape recorder because then the jury in cases like this could hear what the defendants ACTUALLY said, rather than the agent's version of what they said?" Agent Malik also failed to agree with this, and offered some explanations about working collaboratively with his partner.

The next witness was Greg Lilo, Arizona Game and Fish officer, who described apprehending reporter John H. Richardson in the canyon. Lilo found the broken sensor, and the snare, but upon cross-examination was unable to say for sure whether the snare had actually been damaged, only that it was 'disassembled' and moved from what he understood to be its original place.

The final witness was Kristi Kath, who runs a business called Tucson Media Monitoring, which records all local TV news and public affairs broadcasts, and provides copies of this material for a fee. In April 2004 prosecutors asked for copies of all news broadcasts the included the defendant Rod Coronado around the time of the Sabino Canyon incident in March. She found 20 stories, and the prosecutors played 2 for the jury.

After the last witness the jury was excused for lunch and the defense made motions to dismiss all charges for lack of evidence but the judge overruled. After the break the case exploded into a debate on first amendment rights when all three lawyers spent a considerable portion of their closing arguments on John Richardson’s recording, Earth First!’s tactics of submitting video material to the media, and Rod Coronado’s statements to the media before, during, and after the hunt.

In his closing statement, Government prosecutor Wallace Kleindienst accused defendants Coronado and Crozier, as well as John Richardson of “trampling on free speech” because part of their criminal agenda was to “manipulate the news media” and to “interfere with the truth.” At least two-thirds of Kleindienst’s closing argument was about the Richardson tape, notes that he made into an audio recorder when he was accompanying Earth First! in Sabino Canyon. The tape had been introduced as evidence Friday, after a 45-minute controversial discussion on Thursday afternoon, after the jury was dismissed, about whether the tape could be used. Kleindienst argued that the Richardson tape was “the smoking gun” in the case.

Kleindienst asserted that Richardson was a “co-conspirator” in the case because of his actions in Sabino Canyon. Many were very concerned that due to this argument the Richardson tapes could be introduced, especially since the government has not charged Richardson with conspiracy. Kleindienst went so far as to say that, “the tapes [Richardson’s and Coronado’s video footage] would hang them.”

Defense Attorney Bruner responded to the government’s arguments by saying that the Richardson tapes “are audio notes by a journalist,” pointing out that when FBI special agent Doak Malik refered to the Richardson tapes as “audio notes” in his witness testimony, Kleindienst immediately corrected him saying, “don’t call them that, unless Richardson called them that."

Tony Felix, representing Coronado, said in his closing comments that he was troubled that the case had turned into an argument about whether or not Sabino Canyon should have been closed and a First Amendment case. “The principal to get information to the media is part of democracy, and when the Government says that’s a criminal objective, we’ve got problems,” Felix said.

Bruner spent the majority of his time detailing how Crozier had not been proven “beyond a reasonable doubt” that he was guilty of any of the three charges. He also reiterated that in the FBI notes the word “snare” had been added to the notes under the word “sensor” in a different person’s handwriting. He pointed out that if the snare was damaged, than why did the Government not introduce it as evidence, or even ask Sam Derringer, the man hired to hunt the lions and who owned and set the traps, about the nature of the damaged traps. (Later Kleindienst, in his rebuttal, responded that if the Defense was concerned about the condition of the snare, why didn’t they ask Derringer in their cross-examination?)

In his closing arguments, Felix criticized the Government’s strategy, saying that their goal was to get the jury “on the emotional side of the Arizona Game and Fish Department (AGFD),” and that he believed that many of the Government’s witnesses were called up to give testimony for this purpose. He pointed out the contradictions in the testimonies of the helicopter pilot, Mike Brinkworth and John Romero (AGFD law enforcement officer) about how many people were involved in “digging.”

Both defense attorneys stressed the fact that the hunt was being run by AGFD, not a federal entity, thus the Earth First! activists could not have interfered with or injured a federal official (or his/her property).

Approximately 20 supporters of Crozier and Coronado were present in the courtroom.

The jury is expected to return with a verdict Tuesday.