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Tuesday, February 23, 2010

Update: Utah Judge postpones Tim DeChristopher trial

SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH -- The trial of University of Utah student and conservation activist Tim DeChristopher, who spoke in Marquette at the Protect the Earth event last August about his December 2008 protest against a corrupt federal oil and gas lease auction of public lands by the Bureau of Land Management, has been postponed from March 15, 2010, to an indefinite date.*

DeChristopher has been charged with two felonies for his civil disobedience. Supporters had been invited to come to Salt Lake City on March 15 to protest the trial of a young man who consciously bid money he didn't have, risking jail, because he believed he could not, in conscience, pass up the opportunity to do something to combat climate change -- an issue he feels threatens the survival of his and future generations.

U.S. District Judge Dee Benson has postponed the trial, planning to use the March 15 date for a hearing to consider DeChristopher's lawyers’ contention that Tim is being prosecuted selectively (meaning other people have bid on leases and never paid, and were never prosecuted).

For more information from DeChristopher's supporters, consult the FAQ page from the Web site Peaceful Uprising.

Click here for the Salt Lake Tribune's Feb. 17, 2010, article on the judge's postponement of the trial.

*Editor's Note: See our report on Tim DeChristopher's presentation in Marquette in our Aug. 5, 2009, article, "Protect the Earth 2009: Part 1."

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