Barton Tanner is a seventeen year employee of NDOW. He manages the Key Pittman Wildlife Management Area in Lincoln County. In 1992, two hunters called the Las Vegas Office of NDOW to find out the limits on sage grouse prior to their hunting trip. These hunters were told the limits were three daily and six in possession. They depended upon this information as the hunting brochures were not yet available to the public. In actuality, the limit that year was two daily and four \D possession. The Las Vegas office had given the hunters incorrect information.
After hunting the opening weekend, the hunters encountered a road block in Alamo, Nevada. This roadblock had been set up by NDOW game wardens Dennis Roden and Frank Chaves. The two hunters were issued citations for an overlimit of sage grouse. When the two hunters appeared in Justice Court, they told the court clerk about the misinformation they were given and also that the regulations were unavailable prior to their hunting trip. At this time, the hunters requested that the court clerk contact Barton Tanner about the false information which came out of the Las
Vegas office.
Several weeks later Mr. Tanner was asked to appear by the court clerk on the arraignment date. Mr. Tanner confirmed the hunters' statements about the bad information they received. In addition he informed the judge that these hunters were honest and had never been observed breaking the law. The two hunters pled guilty with an explanation. Because of Mr. Tanner's truthful testimony, the judge dismissed the charges against the two hunters. Because Mr. Tanner was not subpoenaed and was just asked by the court clerk to appear and because he had told the truth, NDOW went after him.
Mr. Tanner's father was a trapper for many years and passed this skill on to his son. Prior to grey fox season, Mr. Tanner had some traps set for coyotes. Coyote trapping season is open all year. The night before grey fox season opened, three trappers observed a grey fox in one of Mr. Tanner's coyote traps. Remember, a trap is not species selective and traps must be checked every ninety six hours. Mr. Tanner had previously turned in two fox which were accidentally caught out of season in his traps and he wasn't prosecuted for this. Tanner had no way to know this fox had been caught before the season when he checked his traps two days after fox season opened. Warden Dennis Roden went to Mr. Tanner's traps on the opening day of fox season and marked the
fox by clipping its ear and spraying ultraviolet paint on its ear. Roden had previously released a fox from another individual's trap but Officer Roden chose not to do this for Tanner. Officer Roden knew it was the opening day of the season and Mr. Tanner would have no way to know it was caught before the season. Instead of telling Mr. Tanner that the fox had gotten into the trap or releasing it, Officers Dennis Roden and Frank Chaves conspired to set Mr. Tanner up on an illegal trapping charge. Pure and simple, this was done to get even for Tanner telling the truth in the sage grouse case.
On January 5,1993, game wardens Dennis Roden and Frank Chaves went to visit Tanner at his home. The majority of the discussion on this day with Tanner was about him being truthful in the court case involving the sage hen hunters. They also chose not to inform Mr. Tanner of their intent to search his furs. After reprimanding Tanner on the sage grouse case, Officers Roden and Chaves asked to see his furs. After Tanner showed him the furs, Roden secured the fox. The two officers decided not to issue Tanner a citation as required by state law and departmental policy. In essence, this denied Mr. Tanner his right to a speedy trial as he wasn't able to get an arraignment date for almost six months.
On March 16, 1993 Roden swore out a criminal
complaint which was untrue but signed under the laws of perjury to be true. It took Tanner one and a half years before he was found not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Repeat, found not guilty beyond a reasonable doubt. Because of NDOW's actions, Tanner's job was in jeopardy and he felt that he had to proceed with a civil lawsuit. The attorney general's office tried numerous times to get this suit dismissed but were unsuccessful as there was no foundation in their claim. There has to be substantial foundation due to all of immunities afforded these officers.
Prior to going to trial, the defendants offered Mr. Tanner $9750.00 to settle. Mr. Tanner agreed to this offer as he wanted to put all of this behind him. This offer would not have come close to covering his court costs and attorney fees. Five days later, it was NDOW's decision to withdraw the offer because they wanted to go to trial. Once again, the federal judge tried to settle the case before going to trial. But once again, the defendants were unwilling to settle. Pete Morros and Willie Molini refused to settle despite their attorneys' recommendations. They refused to believe that these officers had been wrong. Does this remind you of the film, "Dumb and Dumber"?
After two days of trial, the jury found Officers Roden and Chaves liable for the violation of Mr.
Tanner's first amendment rights and abuse of process. The jury awarded Mr. Tanner $200,000.00 in compensatory damages and $60,000.00 damages against game warden Roden and $50,000.00 in compensatory damages and $20,00.00 in punitive damages against Chaves. This amounts to $330,000.00 in damages plus attorney fees and costs. This cost will increase if there is an appeal as there will be additional attorney fees and interest will accrue from the day the judgment is entered. The jury heard both sides of the case and not only found in Mr. Tanner's favor but made a strong statement about the outrageous conduct of the two game wardens.
What has it cost the sportsmen so far because of this Morros and Molini fiasco? $150,000.00? $250,000.00? Who knows? Officers Roden and Chaves were paid while testifying, rooms, food, per diem were also paid. The attorney general's office had to travel to Alamo and Las Vegas to testify in addition to all the time spent on research prior to the trials. For all of this, the sportsmen want to thank Willie Molini, Pete Morros and the other NDOW employees involved for this unbelievable waste of money that could have been used in wildlife management programs! Your management style created this nightmare and for that the sportsmen of our state have been punished by your incompetence once again.
