Federal prosecutors deny SUWA influence in ATV protest ride case

Government attorneys have rebutted claims that a federal judge's friendship with an environmental group's lawyer prevented him from being impartial in the trial of San Juan County Commissioner Phil Lyman. And a Garfield County commissioner now wants Gov. Gary Herbert to intervene in the case to influence a recusal of Judge Robert J. Shelby. Lyman's attorney filed a motion in U.S. District Court last week seeking for Shelby to remove himself from the case because he is longtime friends with Southern Utah Wilderness Alliance legal director Steven Bloch and his wife. The Utah U.S. Attorney's Office says Bloch wasn't a party to the case and there is no reason for Shelby to step aside. Lyman further contends that Bloch urged the U.S. Attorney's Office to prosecute him and had a "high level" of involvement in the decision to file charges. Bennett wrote that neither Bloch nor any member of SUWA participated in prosecutors' discussions about how to try the case against Lyman and the other defendants. SUWA attorney Liz Thomas, however, did provide the BLM news articles and Lyman's Facebook posts about the protest ride and urged the agency to enforce its closure order by recording the event, issuing citations and doing a damage assessment...more