Utah environmental activist drops appeals

DeChristopher said Friday he was dropping appeals after being turned back earlier this month at the Denver-based 10th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals.

"Throughout every stage of this legal process, it has been a predetermined conclusion that I should be punished for standing up to the collusion between government and corporations," DeChristopher said in a statement to The Association Press. "Any potential discussion of ethics, justice or the role of citizens has been banished from the court."

From the start, DeChristopher asserted the government auction in 2008 was illegal and that he was acting in civil disobedience to safeguard wild lands near Utah's national parks from drilling.

On Friday, DeChristopher said his fate was sealed by a trial judge who refused to let him testify about his environmental motives.

"As a result, our defense team has been restricted to debating a narrow range of technicalities rather than the critical issues of the case," said the University of Utah economics graduate.

DeChristopher has served 14 months of his two-year sentence at a federal prison in California and is due to be released in April.