Under a ruling from the Utah Court of Appeals, a Colorado man will be tried on felony and misdemenanor charges arising from a gate-closing incident at a San Juan County livestock corral, but the court signaled it may summarily throw out the charges against his wife, a prominent wilderness advocate.
A key piece of evidence leveled against Mark Franklin is his marriage to Rose Chilcoat, which San Juan County prosecutors contend indicates he intended to harm cattle when he admittedly closed the gate to a corral that enclosed a water source.
That’s a laughable theory and an insult to the First Amendment’s protections of free speech and free association, argued the couple’s appellate lawyer, Paul Cassell, at a hearing before a three-judge panel July 9.