Jeff King to pay fine, restitution in Denali Park illegal hunting case
Originally published Friday, December 5, 2008 at 4:42 p.m.
Updated Saturday, December 6, 2008 at 12:11 a.m.
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Stumble It!Iditarod champion musher Jeff King was ordered to pay a $4,000 fine and another $750 in restitution to the National Park Service on Friday for illegally killing a moose just inside Denali National Park and Preserve more than a year ago.
King, 52, was found guilty of shooting a bull moose 600 feet inside the park boundary by a federal magistrate on Oct. 24 following a two-day trial. He faced a maximum of six months in jail and a $5,000 fine.
With tears running down his face as he addressed Federal Magistrate Judge John D. Roberts near the end of the 4 1/2-hour sentencing hearing at the federal courthouse in Fairbanks, King described himself as “humbled and emotionally spent.”
“I’m ready for it to be over,” the four-time Iditarod champ from Denali Park said, his voice cracking. “This has turned my life upside down and has caused me countless nights of sleepless worry. I am deeply embarrassed by it all.”
Prosecutor Stephen Cooper, assistant U.S. district attorney, asked Roberts to impose the maximum penalty on King and send him to jail for what he called “an obstruction of justice.” Cooper contended that King initially lied to rangers about where he shot the moose and then lied under oath during the trial. He also accused King of fabricating evidence related to his use of a GPS.
“There was an element of deliberateness and misleading practiced on the rangers and on the court,” Cooper argued. “Mr. King has lied three times on three occasions — to the rangers in the field, to the rangers when they served a search warrant at his house and to the court. It would be unrealistic if you didn’t take that into account. If he hadn’t lied to rangers in the field, you would have a totally different ball game.”
In his comments to the judge, King denied lying to anyone at any time.
“I have not and will never willingly tell a lie,” he said.
Defense attorney Myron Angstman called Cooper’s recommendation for jail time “preposterous.”
“This is a petty misdemeanor and should be treated as such,” said Angstman, who asked that King be allowed to serve community service in lieu of a fine. “The only way you go to jail if you shoot a moose in Alaska is if you waste a substantial part of it or you are somehow commercially involved in profiting from that moose.”
In the end, Roberts sided with the defense. He said there was not sufficient evidence that King lied under oath and that shooting the moose inside the park boundary was a case of poor judgment, not blatant disregard.
“This is not a case of failing to notch a harvest ticket or taking more than one moose in a season,” Roberts said. “Basically, it’s about taking a moose in a national park.”
Only federally qualified subsistence users, which King is not, are allowed to hunt within park boundaries.
During the trial, King and Angstman argued that the boundary along the northeast edge of the park where King was hunting was poorly marked and that the park boundary was difficult to find on the park service’s Web site.
But as a responsible hunter, it was up to King to know where the park boundary was located, whether it was marked or not, Roberts said.
“When you set out on a race you have to know where the trail is,” Roberts said, alluding to King’s mushing prowess. “If you don’t, you do so at your own peril.”
King, who has lived in Denali Park for 33 years and runs a mushing tour business in the summer that caters to park tourists, issued this statement following Roberts’ decision.
“The whole thing has been an unpleasant experience, and I’m glad it’s over. There was a silver lining for me in that it reminded me of the community support that rallied around Donna and me after our housefire in 1989. The support of my character came from Sen. Lisa Murkowski, the Make-A-Wish Foundation, the Iditarod board of directors, the mayor of the Denali Borough and other cherished long time friends. It was humbling to me to have so many good people support my integrity. I made an honest mistake, and I believe the fine was reasonable. I can’t wait to get back on my sled and do what I do best.”
Asked about his feelings toward the park service after Friday’s sentencing, King said only, “I know there are a lot of good people over there, and I sure would have rather sat eye-to-eye with them over somebody’s kitchen table and taken care of this than have it turn out the way it did. This got way out of hand.”
Angstman, a dog mushing friend of King’s who owns a private practice in Bethel and has practiced law in Alaska for 34 years, agreed.
“This whole thing is a study in how a petty misdemeanor can be taken to extremely high levels if the federal government desires, which seems to be the case here,” Angstman said. “This is the longest petty misdemeanor I’ve ever been involved with.”
Though he recommended jail time, a higher restitution amount and the revocation of King’s hunting privileges for three years, Cooper accepted the fine handed down by Roberts.
“The judge decides,” he said. “That’s the way it is.”
Though he still didn’t agree with the guilty verdict issued by Roberts in October, Angstman said he was happy with Friday’s outcome given Cooper’s recommendation.
“There was a lot worse that could have happened,” Angstman said.
King planned to pay the entire $4,750 penalty on Friday to avoid a 12-month probation period meant to ensure payment, Angstman said.
Community Discussion
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That was one expensive moose.
Score another glorious victory for the Nationalsozialistische Parkstaffel.
Ain't that a kick in the pants. Judge Roberts appears to be dancing on a head of a pin with some angels.
That King was a liar and a perjurer was obvious from the record and from the hearings. I guess celebrity still buys you something in this state. Lucky for him he wasn't tried in DC...
TR- those aren't real words
UserName: One is. Google "Nationalsozialistische". The other is my own clever contraction of what is really an unconstitutional government police agency.
Clever is in the mind of the believer.
Okay. Not so clever. But maybe you get the point.
King lied...and lied....and lied. That has been proven, now. At numerous times preceding and throughout the trial he had the chance to come clean and probably would have gotten less of a fine had he done so. Now, we have someone like TundraRebellion who apparently figures if it's a federal agency then automatically they are at fault and the so-called "little guy" should always go free.
Fine...
Let's do that, TR. And when someone decides they don't care about federal gun laws and fires off a few rounds towards your cabin because a moose they wanted was standing there, it will be interesting to see how fast you go whining to the nearest ranger about wildlife hunting violations and other such matters.
Oooo...that big, bad federal gummint! (Of course, we will see an answer by TR in which he postures in the finest macho way about firing back, etc, and taking care of things himself.)
OK, its a German word, and you are violating my right to speak in English. If that's what you believe, I'd like to know when Jeff goes into the oven.
Seems a little excessive for him to be crying over it. He broke a law, he went to court, he got a fairly lenient treatment...nothing outside the norm here. I personally think the prohibition on hunting in national parks is somewhat ridiculous, but he knew the rules.
Makes me wonder what the Judge will do "if " and when the "Hunters" from Point Hope go to trial........I haven't heard anything about that recently .Does anyone know what's happening with that case?
Dobieman: If King broke state law, I'd say throw the book at him. But the unelected bureaucrats of the NPS have no authority to even exist under the Constitution of the United States. A document anti-republic, socialist-environmentalists don't care about and probably at some level, even despise.
Oh, and if somebody is deliberately shooting at someone's cabin and their life is in danger, what kind of naive, delusional fool wouldn't shoot back. Perhaps you would walk out with flowers in hand and trust their kind generosity to spare you.
Username: You speak in whatever language you want. I honestly don't care. Just remember that not all "real words" are necessarily in English.
Clinton lied...and lied....and lied, under oath. But wait, he was a powerful liberal leader, so that was okay.
I would have thought he would lose his hunting license for some period of time.
theabowman: Perhaps since this was a federal charge, and not a state one, it doesn't affect his license? I'm not sure. Anyone else know if this would be the case?
roadtrip, didn't Clinton get impeached for that?
Anyway, Clinton didn't shoot a moose in a federal park, neither did he use his daughter as a type of "circumstantial scapegoat"-
(he said SHE drove their 4-wheeler onto and off of the park, not him)
No state law was broken, hence his state issued license is not at risk.
Yep, $4750.00 is an expensive moose.
"Punishment" is defined as consequences of a behavior that make the behavior less likely to be repeated in the future. I suspect this should be sufficient to accomplish the goal. Anything more would not be punishment, it would simply be revenge.
Trip wins Troll Award for the Day!! Yeah Trip!!
Palin 2012
YMBC: Have the liquor stores out there in the Twin Cities closed yet?
One of my neighbors shot towards our cabin last fall when he was shooting at a moose. We were out in our yard filming the moose, a beautiful bull who had just won a spar with a smaller bull in our yard. Our neighbor was just at the top of our driveway. I never thought about shooting back at him! I was too busy herding us back into the house so we wouldn't get killed. And what good would it have done anyone if I had shot back towards him? Would it have made me and my family any safer? Would it have improved neighborly relations? I'll answer my own rhetorical questions with a resounding no.
Crybaby King has plenty of moose to shoot outside the park. They are everywhere I try to drive and on hunting land everywhere. King should be embarrassed, like Vic Young who tortured animals to make more money, like his big football contract wasn't enough. Four time Iditarod musher winner is a real life hunter loser. Makes real hunters look bad. Wouldn't be surprised he shoots his dogs that don't perform to his liking.
King did set a good example for the qualified subsistence hunters, let your kid drive your ATV in to pick up your Moose, Park service has EXTREMELY limited trails, and you cannot drive your ATV's off the trail to retrieve your Moose. So thank Jeff for setting this standard of Moose retrieval on park lands!
Actually, on a per pound basis, $4,750 isn't all that bad. Now about those park employees who wandered onto someone's property with their four wheelers?
"If King broke state law, I'd say throw the book at him. But the unelected bureaucrats of the NPS have no authority to even exist under the Constitution of the United States. A document anti-republic, socialist-environmentalists don't care about and probably at some level, even despise."
National parks are created by federal law under Congress; thus, King broke a federal law. And yes, we do have to follow federal laws, no matter how much you might want Alaska to secede or some other crazy idea.
Also, last time I checked the federal government was run by the Bush administration, which may be anti-republic but is definitely not socialist or environmentalist.
Too bad the authorities can't put as much effort towards convicting the Point Hope caribou shooters.
The $4,750 fine is chump change to King. The embarassment of getting caught is the real punishment.
What's up with the $750 restitution fee? Park Service spent way more than that on this trial. If they had spent that money on marking the boundary in places where they know many Alaskans hunt then maybe King would have known he was in the Park.
Any United States citizen can move to the Cantwell subsistence zone and after one year they qualify to hunt with motorized vehicles in the area 50 miles from Cantwell where King was caught "poaching". But people who have lived for decades just a few miles from that Park boundary can never qualify to hunt there. That is not fair and will continue to be a source of resentment...
Hope King can put this behind him and get on with living his life. And that he gets that fifth Iditarod victory this year...
Holy crap, did someone really bring Bill Clinton into a hunting incident in interior Alaska? Boy you guys are desperate. So what, he lied about an extra-marrital affair that had ZERO effect on his presidency. The only thing wrong that Clinton did (in the eyes of the law) was lying to prosecutors initially. Bush lied about WMD's and intelligence and 4,000 US soldiers are dead but who cares right? At least he was moral and didn't get a shiner in the oral office.
AK_WDB:
National Parks were created by federal law under Congress. But do you understand what "enumerated powers" are? Apparently politicians(both parties) in Washington D.C. do not and haven't for a very long time.
When did I say I wanted Alaska to secede?
And yes, whether laws are constitutional or not, we're always quiet and do what we're told.
How many million acres does this park encompass and how far into it was Jeff King? Exactly 600 feet...? I imagine it took a government hired surveyor to figure this out. who cares, another dead moose. It is not like there will not be more moose calves born.
My biggest objection to the whole thing is the ridiculous amount of money the park service and state court spent prosecuting this (helicopter charter, investigation, etc). I assure you it was many times more than the fine levied. Why? to "make an example" out of someone because they are well known. Not fair to him, and not fair to taxpayers.
Thank God Jeff. NOW STAY AWAKE AND BEAT LANCE, BRO!
You didn't waste the moose, your a true Alaskan. I
Know of two people in the bush here, one wasted a whole moose.
Let it hang from September to April,it was green. I think he got a
thousand dollar fine, no jail time and 5 year no hunting. The other wasted a half the same way, maggots were jetting out on the road. He got nothing more then a slap on the wrist. The first one is a chief!
lol
I Will be with you in prayer during training.
HAPPY TRAILS
King has the whole Yanert valley literally, in his back yard,, of course its a non-motorized hunting area, so its hunted by a few horse people. If King could find some pack dogs, or use sled dogs to pull a wagon on the horse trail & river bed., he could hunt right out of his home,.. moose, caribou, sheep.
Dirkwigdoubt- Cantwell is technically a " Indian village", that apparently plays a role in becoming a qualified subsistence hunter.
A LIE is a LIE and a LIAR ia a LIAR. Not a very good example to his daughter or other daughters either!
Go Lance, now there is a humble man!!
Have any of you ever taken a 4 wheeler, dog team, snow machine or walking and tried to find the North side of the park ? Try the West side ! There is nothing on either, only where Rangers went out, not surveyors, and marked the section where this was supposed to have taken place.
The NPS Gestapo do whatever they want with no come back or question. When they decided to expand the park there was no public comment or feed back ! I had a fly in packing/hunting camp West of the park. One day a Ranger flys in and said "You have one month to clear this property, it is now in DNP" Questions about advanced bookings etc. got an answer of "Tough". I had to refund several many) thousands of $$$$$$$. Cleaned out what I wanted then set light to all the buildings, he11 it is their park let them put out the fire ! I was lucky in that I had other revenue, close friend that had been doing it for 40 some years lost everything, comited suicide as he didn't know what else to do.
Personally I am infuriated at the amount of taxpayer money that was spent to prosecute this ridiculous charge. The allegations that King lied his way through this case are proposterous. How many more hunters or uninvestigated incidents have gotten away with doing much worse through inaction or looking the other way by the park service. King was targeted because he is famous. That is a form of discrimination by the government, and rightly, King could bring a case against them.
TundraTrekker, you are absolutely out of line. You obviously have no idea what you are talking about, and your obvious limited knowlegde of the Alaskan lifestyle is apparent. There is absolutely no way that anyone could have won the Iditarod 4 times as well as numerous other races if he in anyway tortured his dogs or had an inhumane view towards animals in general. Any dog musher worth their salt has a great respect for animals and their abilites, and values their dogs to a degree that most reserve for their children. Good Luck Jeff, I hope now that this is over you can focus on the task of kickin Lance's butt this year! We are all still rootin for you!
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