A professional bowhunter who admitted poaching
protected elk in Yellowstone National Park for nine years may get
to keep his spoils. Federal prosecutors say they will not press
Donald E. Lewis to hand over his illegal animal trophies to the
government, as mandated by a plea bargain Lewis and his hunting
partner, Arthur Sims, agreed to in August 1993 (HCN, 6/9/93).
Poachers, when caught, are typically ordered to surrender their
mounts as part of their sentence. But forcing Lewis to relinquish
his may violate his constitutional right against
self-incrimination, says Assistant U.S. Attorney Christopher
Crofts, the Wyoming prosecutor who handled Lewis’ case. The
constitutional right is at issue because the trophies may offer
evidence of more poaching offenses than Lewis was charged with. In
the plea bargain, the federal government agreed not to charge Lewis
with any crimes beyond the three misdemeanor counts of poaching
that he had already agreed to, as long as he and Sims answered
questions in a secret session with federal agents. Lewis and Sims
answered questions, but the private talks were disclosed by
reporters who had obtained documents through the federal Freedom of
Information Act, Crofts told the Billings Gazette. “I don’t know
whether we can expect good faith on their part,” he
said.
This article appeared in the print edition of the magazine with the headline … As park poacher holds on to trophies.
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