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BLM Did Not Use Excessive Force in 2009 Artifact Raids, Federal Appeals Court Decides

Vilseskogen
/
Creative Commons
Anazasi pottery artifacts at the Anazasi Heritage Center, Dolores, Colorado

The U.S. Tenth Circuit Court of Appeals has rejected an appeal from the family of a Utah physician who committed suicide after an artifacts raid in June 2009.

Last week, a three-judge panel upheld a U.S. District Court ruling that the lead law-enforcement agent for the Bureau of Land Management did not use excessive force during the arrest of Dr. James Redd of Blanding. Redd was one of 23 people arrested on charges of illegally possessing or trafficking in Native American artifacts. The raid followed a months-long undercover investigation. The next day, Redd killed himself. His widow and estate then filed suit against a total of 37 BLM and FBI agents, but all claims were dismissed except one excessive-force claim against the BLM’s Daniel Love. The plaintiffs charged that up to 69 agents, some in SWAT gear, had swarmed the Redds’ house during an all-day search for artifacts. The family said such force was not needed in arresting a non-violent citizen on misdemeanor charges. However, Love said no more than 22 agents searched the home and they were needed because of the large number of artifacts. The appeals court found that Love was justified in deploying multiple agents and that they “had ample reason to believe that they were entering a hostile environment” because of “the historical tension between federal powers and some of Blanding’s citizenry.”

Gail Binkly is a career journalist who has worked for the Colorado Springs Gazette and Cortez Journal, and was the editor of the Four Corners Free Press, based in Cortez.