Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
By RICHARD JENKINS
Bessemer — With Thursday’s hearing in Gogebic County Circuit Court ending without a plea agreement, the case of Jason Charles Roberts is scheduled for an April trial.
Roberts, 34, of Ironwood, faces three animal cruelty-related charges stemming from a video that allegedly shows Roberts urging several hunting dogs to attack a wounded coyote.
He faces a felony charge of torturing an animal and misdemeanors for cruelty to an animal and failure to kill a wounded animal. The first charge carries maximum sentence of four years in prison, while the other two have maximum sentences of 93 days and 90 days, respectively.
According to Gogebic County Prosecutor Nick Jacobs, Thursday’s hearing in Circuit Court Judge Michael Pope’s chambers dealt with a defense motion to reconsider an earlier motion asserting Roberts was protected by treaty rights.
Pope’s order denying the motion said it wasn’t made within the time limit after the initial motion was rejected.
“Defendant filed the instant pleading on March 19, 2016, almost seven months after this court’s 8/24/15 order. Pursuant to (Michigan law), a motion for reconsideration of a decision must be served and filed not later than 21 days after the entry of the order,” the order read.
According to court documents, Roberts’ lawyer, Roy Polich, argued in the original motion that as someone of Indian descent — as certified by the enrollment office of the Lac du Flambeau Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians — Roberts is protected by federal treaty, which trumps Michigan’s game laws.
At the time, the prosecutor’s office argued the treaty rights would only protect Roberts if he was a registered member of the tribe and had obtained a tribal hunting license.
Roberts’ trial is scheduled to begin April 26.
A second Ironwood resident, Dale Scott Allen, 45, also faces charges related to the YouTube video of the Feb. 20, 2014, incident, as well as a second video that allegedly shows a coyote that had been hit by a truck before being killed.
Allen faces a felony and four misdemeanors — the felony being torturing an animal and the misdemeanors being a wildlife conservation general violation, two counts of cruelty to an animal and a wildlife conservation violation for taking game from a vehicle.
The conservation violations each carry possible 90-day sentences.
Jacobs said former prosecutor Richard Adams and Allen’s attorney, Karl Numinen, had reached an agreement to have the case remanded to District Court and a written agreement was reached on the resolution of the case, but hasn’t been put onto the record yet.
Jacobs said while no further court proceedings have taken place since the case was remanded to District Court, he anticipated it would be concluded in the near future.
