Student Pleads Not Guilty in Utah Land Case

[Darren Hill]

29th April 2009
Democracy Now


        Student Pleads Not Guilty in Utah Land Case

In Utah, a college student who prevented a mass sell-off of public 
wilderness has pleaded not guilty to charges of interfering with a 
public auction. Tim DeChristopher made headlines in December when he 
disrupted the Bush administration’s last-minute move to auction off oil 
and gas exploitation rights on vast swaths of federal land in Utah. 
DeChristopher was arrested after he posed as a bidder and bought 22,000 
acres of land in an attempt to save the property from drilling. He faces 
up to ten years in prison and a $750,000 fine. The trial is set to begin 
in July. On Tuesday, some 200 supporters rallied for DeChristopher 
outside his arraignment at the federal courthouse in Salt Lake City.

More on this story at-

http://www.democracynow.org/search/land+auction/1