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ST. GEORGE — San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman reported to jail Tuesday to serve a 10-day sentence for an illegal ATV protest ride in a protected southern Utah canyon.
Officers booked Lyman into the Purgatory Correctional Facility in Washington County. He is scheduled to be released April 28.
A jury convicted Lyman and Monte Wells in May on misdemeanor charges of conspiring to operate off-road vehicles on public lands closed to off-road vehicles, and operation of off-road vehicles on public lands closed to off-road vehicles.
U.S. District Judge David Nuffer sentenced Lyman to 10 days in jail and Wells to five days in jail. He allowed Lyman, a certified public accountant, to report after the April 18 tax filing deadline. Wells served his time in January. The judge also imposed 36 months' probation and $96,000 in restitution on the two men.
Both men appealed their convictions to the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. Lyman, acting as his own attorney, was granted more time to file his initial brief due April 20. He now has until May 20.
Lyman has said he wants to prove he didn't trespass or encourage others to break the law during the May 2014 ride designed to express frustration over federal land management practices.
