Local environmentalist Rose Chilcoat has filed a civil lawsuit against a Utah rancher and San Juan County officials who accused her of trying to kill cattle two years ago.
Chilcoat was expected to make a statement about her lawsuit Wednesday in Salt Lake City. Her attorney, Karra Porter, said Wednesday morning the charges against Chilcoat were not based in fact and were politically motivated.
The rancher, Zane Odell, could not be reached for comment. San Juan County Attorney Kendall Laws was out of the office Wednesday.
“There is significant concern that a lot of things were done to Rose Chilcoat simply because of her environmental views,” Porter said.
In April 2017, Chilcoat and her husband, Mark Franklin, were hit with felony and misdemeanor charges after prosecutors said the couple closed the gate to one of Odell’s corrals between Mexican Hat and Bluff with the intent to shut cattle off from access to water.
The San Juan County Attorney’s Office charged Chilcoat with two misdemeanors: one for trespassing on state trust lands and another for providing false information for identifying herself to police using her married name.
Six days after the initial charges were filed, Chilcoat was issued two new felony charges: attempted wanton destruction of livestock and retaliation against a witness for a letter she sent to the Bureau of Land Management about Odell’s cattle operation.
Ultimately, all the charges against Chilcoat were dropped by higher courts.
Franklin, however, ended up taking a plea deal earlier this month. If he meets several conditions of the deal, including paying a $1,000 fine, all charges will be dropped.
The couple have maintained for the past two years the entire case was brought as a form of retaliation for Chilcoat’s years of environmental work for Great Old Broads for Wilderness, which deals with many contentious public lands and grazing issues in San Juan County.
According to the civil lawsuit filed Wednesday, Chilcoat was “vindicated” when the courts dismissed the charges against her.
“It took more than a year, however, after Ms. Chilcoat was forced to incur substantial defense costs fighting the fabricated allegations,” the complaint said. “The actions against Ms. Chilcoat violated her constitutional rights and cost her a substantial amount of money, for which this lawsuit seeks redress.”
The lawsuit also claims Chilcoat was illegally detained and falsely accused of attempting to kill cattle, and that Laws, the county attorney, made intentional misstatements throughout the court process.
“Laws was not evaluating evidence,” the complaint says. “He was fabricating evidence and/or falsely representing that he had evidence when he knew that he did not.”
The lawsuit does not name a dollar amount Chilcoat is seeking, other than stating she is “entitled to an award of punitive damages.”
Tensions between some residents in San Juan County and the Great Old Broads have flared up several times in recent years. In May 2018, a Utah judge moved the couple’s scheduled trial out of San Juan County after it was determined they would not receive a fair trial there.
A poll that surveyed about 200 people in San Juan County found about 75 percent were familiar with the Great Old Broads, and of that amount, 75 percent had a “very unfavorable” view.
jromeo@durangoherald.com