This is an archived article that was published on sltrib.com in 2011, and information in the article may be outdated. It is provided only for personal research purposes and may not be reprinted.
Robert Redford is not happy.
The actor/director/environmentalist expressed his displeasure at Thursday's conviction of fellow Utahn Tim DeChristopher — found guilty on two counts of misrepresenting himself and placing bogus bids at a federal oil and gas lease auction in December 2008 — by writing a blog entry for The Huffington Post.
"There's something wrong with this picture," Redford wrote in analyzing DeChristopher's conviction.
Redford's post lets a national audience into the particulars of DeChristopher's case, pointing out that the oil-and-gas sale in which DeChristopher made his phony bids was later blocked by a federal judge and ruled improper by the Obama administration's Interior department. Redford also notes that those facts were not allowed to be mentioned by DeChristopher's defense.
Noting U.S. Attorney Carlie Christensen's statement that DeChristopher was responsible for "disrupting open public processes and causing financial harm to the government and other individuals," Redford countered:
"Major financial institutions in this country brought the nation's economy to its knees yet not one person associated with the debacle is in jail. The human consequence of their actions is indescribably profound and not one person responsible for any of it went to jail. And yet the federal government prosecuted this young activist's act of civil disobedience and he now faces jail time."
Redford finishes with a fund-raising pitch for DeChristopher's legal defense.