DeChristopher responded in court to the assertion that he could have filed written protests against certain parcels: Huber told the media that DeChristopher was looking for "a prominent venue for his global-warming show - a platform from which he could educate the masses," and asserted that DeChristopher had overlooked legal methods of protest. The court also barred evidence that the lease auction was deemed unlawful, that DeChristopher had raised sufficient funds for an initial payment to the BLM (which the BLM refused to accept), or that DeChristopher's motives were grounded in moral convictions related to climate change. District Judge Dee Benson prohibited the defense, precluding any evidence that might have supported it. ĭeChristopher's defense team sought to rely on a necessity defense, which required proof that DeChristopher was forced to choose between two evils and that his actions resulted in the lesser of the two to avoid imminent harm where no legal alternative was available. He faced a maximum sentence of 10 years in prison and $750,000 in fines. In a 2009 indictment DeChristopher was charged with two felonies: violations of the Federal Onshore Oil and Gas Leasing Reform Act and making false statements.
#Mtr auction trial
In a 2014 climate change protest on Wall Street, DeChristopher expressed his view that "eing serious about tackling the climate crisis means we have to be willing to confront corporate capitalism and the system that is driving that crisis." Trial In 2013, he and numerous other celebrities appeared in a video showing support for Chelsea Manning, and DeChristopher spoke in the University of Vermont's Ira Allen Chapel. In February 2009, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar shelved 77 disputed lease parcels – including some on which DeChristopher had bid in 2008 - and criticized Bush administrators for conducting a "rush review" of the contested lands.ĭeChristopher has expressed the need for similar tactics to end mountaintop removal mining in his home state of West Virginia. In January 2009, Judge Ricardo Urbina of the District of Columbia federal district court temporarily halted the sale of 77 parcels, citing BLM violations of environmental laws protecting air quality and historic preservation. DeChristopher's acts of civil disobedience have been compared to those of Rosa Parks by the media, but DeChristopher has said that his actions are more comparable to those of Alice Paul, who escalated the women's rights movement by forcing the government to publicly arrest women protesting on the steps of the capitol and lending visibility to an obscured social movement.ĭeChristopher's actions garnered national attention for later government auctions of public land leases in the final days of the Bush administration. His perspective on the American environmental movement highlights the critical role that civil disobedience has played in social movements throughout history, including the civil rights and women's suffrage movements. Activism Īs an avid reader, DeChristopher developed an interest in the writers and philosophies that have shaped U.S. This conviction later inspired him to study economics at the University of Utah, where he received a bachelor's degree in 2009. His interaction with at-risk youth groups led him to reject what he viewed as a political and economic system that concentrates wealth in the hands of a privileged few while ostracizing vulnerable and impoverished citizens in the U.S.
As a guide, DeChristopher emphasized self-reliance skills and respect for the natural world. After graduating from Shady Side Academy, he attended Arizona State University, and moved to Utah in 2005 where he worked as a wilderness guide for troubled and at-risk youth. DeChristopher was born on November 18, 1981, in West Milford, West Virginia and grew up in Pittsburgh.
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