Student Climate Activist Singled Out For Prosecution: Lawyers

The defense lawyers for a college student who protected lands from oil barons at an auction say that federal prosecutors are singling him out.

 SALT LAKE CITY, Utah — The defense lawyers for a college student who protected lands from oil barons at an auction say that federal prosecutors are singling him out.

The claim comes after federal prosecutors admitted last week that before the incident with Tim DeChristopher, the government has never once brought charges on those who failed to pay for bids on drilling lease rights on public lands.

The federal government countered the defense’s claims by noted that DeChristopher intended to violate the law while other non-payers – oil drilling companies – simply had ran out of money to pay.

However, the government failed to explain under what circumstances the oil drilling companies in the 25 other cases failed to pony up their dough.

DeChristopher, an economics major at the University of Utah, is facing two felony charges which his lawyers are trying to have dropped.

The 13 leases on lands in which DeChristopher sought to protect during the December 2008 auction are between Arches and Canyonlands national parks in Utah.

DeChristopher attempted to pay for his $1.7 million leases through an Internet campaign; however, the government refused to accept the money and a federal judge ruled that the leases would not be issued to him.

DeChristopher was indicted this past April for disrupting an auction and misrepresenting himself at auctions held by the Bureau of Land Management. His trial is set for March 15-17, 2010.

His lawyers have yet to file papers backing up the claim of selective prosecution, according to reports at deadline.