Man loses appeal in Yellowstone elk shooting case
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) -- A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction and four-year prison term of a southwest Montana man who pleaded guilty in an elk poaching case.
Michael David Belderrain of Whitehall, Mont., pleaded guilty in February 2008 to being a felon in possession of a firearm, transporting illegally possessed wildlife and possessing illegally taken wildlife. Belderrain was charged for standing in Yellowstone National Park, shooting an elk just outside the park and dragging the elk's head to his pickup truck in the park.
Belderrain entered a conditional guilty plea and filed an appeal with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver arguing that he should not have faced the federal charges because he had already been prosecuted in Montana.
In March 2006, Belderrain pleaded guilty in state court in Montana to possessing an illegally taken elk shot in the Buffalo Horn Drainage northwest of Yellowstone in November 2005. The plea agreement granted Belderrain immunity from further federal and state prosecution unless any new information surfaced.
Belderrain's appeal argued that the federal government should have known that the elk head he was charged with dragging to his pickup had actually been taken from the carcass of an elk shot just northwest of the park.
The appellate court said Belderrain "introduced no evidence indicating that the government knew (Belderrain) was responsible for this kill."
Court records show the government didn't learn that Belderrain shot the elk near Yellowstone until months after he pleaded guilty in the Montana case when a taxidermist reported that Belderrain had shot elk near the park border and in the Buffalo Horn Drainage, Judge Monroe G. McKay wrote for the 10th Circuit. The taxidermist said the elk head came from the Yellowstone kill and DNA tests confirmed that.
"Particularly in light of the fact that (Belderrain's) lies regarding the source of the elk head led the government to believe it came from another location, we are convinced that Defendant's involvement in the Yellowstone poaching was not information held by the government at the time he entered into the Montana plea agreement," the court wrote. "Furthermore, his lies effectively deterred the government from investigating any such link."
Belderrain is scheduled to report to a federal prison on March 23.
CASPER, Wyo. (AP) -- A federal appeals court has upheld the conviction and four-year prison term of a southwest Montana man who pleaded guilty in an elk poaching case.
Michael David Belderrain of Whitehall, Mont., pleaded guilty in February 2008 to being a felon in possession of a firearm, transporting illegally possessed wildlife and possessing illegally taken wildlife. Belderrain was charged for standing in Yellowstone National Park, shooting an elk just outside the park and dragging the elk's head to his pickup truck in the park.
Belderrain entered a conditional guilty plea and filed an appeal with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver arguing that he should not have faced the federal charges because he had already been prosecuted in Montana.
In March 2006, Belderrain pleaded guilty in state court in Montana to possessing an illegally taken elk shot in the Buffalo Horn Drainage northwest of Yellowstone in November 2005. The plea agreement granted Belderrain immunity from further federal and state prosecution unless any new information surfaced.
Belderrain's appeal argued that the federal government should have known that the elk head he was charged with dragging to his pickup had actually been taken from the carcass of an elk shot just northwest of the park.
The appellate court said Belderrain "introduced no evidence indicating that the government knew (Belderrain) was responsible for this kill."
Court records show the government didn't learn that Belderrain shot the elk near Yellowstone until months after he pleaded guilty in the Montana case when a taxidermist reported that Belderrain had shot elk near the park border and in the Buffalo Horn Drainage, Judge Monroe G. McKay wrote for the 10th Circuit. The taxidermist said the elk head came from the Yellowstone kill and DNA tests confirmed that.
"Particularly in light of the fact that (Belderrain's) lies regarding the source of the elk head led the government to believe it came from another location, we are convinced that Defendant's involvement in the Yellowstone poaching was not information held by the government at the time he entered into the Montana plea agreement," the court wrote. "Furthermore, his lies effectively deterred the government from investigating any such link."
Belderrain is scheduled to report to a federal prison on March 23.
