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San Juan Co. commissioner appeals Recapture Canyon conviction, will act as his own lawyer

Posted at 12:17 PM, Jan 12, 2016
and last updated 2016-01-12 17:54:05-05

SALT LAKE CITY — San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman will act as his own lawyer in the appeal of his conviction over the 2014 Recapture Canyon protest ride.

Lyman filed his own notice with the U.S. District Court, acknowledging he will be proceeding “pro se” before the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver. In remarks to FOX 13 on Tuesday, Lyman praised his attorney, Peter Stirba, but said as he considered an appeal, “it didn’t work out.”

Lyman said he did not know if he would go to the 10th Circuit Court alone. His co-defendant, Monte Wells, also filed notice of appeal on Tuesday.

Wells and Lyman were convicted and sentenced to jail time and restitution for their role in the 2014 protest ride in Utah’s Four Corners area, where a number of people upset over federal road closure policies rode ATVs through a closed-off area of Recapture Canyon. A jury convicted Lyman and Wells last year.