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SALT LAKE CITY — The Utah Court of Appeals late Thursday said the case against environmental activist Rose Chilcoat should never have advanced in district court and instead ordered the "bindover" suppressed.
The effect is the two remaining charges against Chilcoat will be dismissed and she is no longer under threat of criminal action from an alleged incident in San Juan County.
Attorney Paul Cassell said he believes a similar fate awaits Mark Franklin, who also is being prosecuted in 7th District Court.
Chilcoat is the former director of the Colorado-based Great Old Broads for Wilderness.
In 2017, the San Juan County Sheriff's Office began investigating incidents at Lime Ridge off state Route 163 between Bluff and Mexican Hat.
Authorities said a local cattleman found the gate to his corral latched shut on April 1, blocking the animals' ability to get to water. Deputies found footprints, tire tracks and surveillance from a camera.
A few days later the rancher spotted the vehicle that matched the one in the footage and stopped it. Franklin and Chilcoat were inside.
The land involving the incidents is owned by the Utah School and Institutional Trust Lands Administration and has been leased for cattle grazing. Franklin, according to the investigation, said he latched the gate.
Appellate Judge Gregory Orme said at hearing earlier this month there was insufficient evidence that Chilcoat knew what Franklin was doing or if she was even present during the time of the alleged incident.
Cassell argued that the state wrongly conflated her activist views with criminal intent.
The Thursday order came after the state indicated it would not oppose the dismissal.
