The case is United States v. Baca, out of the Eastern District of California. The defendant, Baca, is being charged by the federal government for filming on government property without a permit and trespassing on a cultural resource. He was filming a tribal ceremony at Yosemite (Yosemite Big Time). He was convicted in a bench trial before a federal magistrate, but the district court vacated the conviction on the grounds that the magistrate should have recused himself for bias. Apparently, the judge has a hangman’s noose in his office, prominently featured in a local newspaper article.

It’ll be interesting to see how Baca’s defense (religious freedom, assertion that he is a religious leader, etc.) will play out in the next trial….

baca-dct-order

baca-appellant-brief

news-article-about-magistrate

government-response-brief-baca

baca-reply-brief