A Pennsylvania man accused of brokering a deal for an allosaurus fossil that prosecutors say was stolen from public lands in Utah will stand trial Sept. 23 on one felony theft charge and one misdemeanor charge that he violated state antiquities laws.
But 7th District Judge Bryce Bryner on Tuesday dismissed two other felony theft charges against Barry James, owner of Prehistoric Journeys, ruling that federal prosecutors violated rules of law by filing the two theft charges in April, four months after James' December preliminary hearing.
"We feel good about the ruling," said Mark Moffat, James' attorney. "The judge agreed the charges were inappropriate, and he took proper action."
Defense attorneys say federal prosecutors threatened James with additional felony charges if James did not plead guilty to one of two original felony theft charges. (Bryner had earlier dismissed one of those.) James refused the deal, and prosecutors then filed the two charges dismissed by Bryner on Tuesday.
James was charged in state court because the federal statute of limitations expired on the alleged crime, committed sometime in the early 1990s. He has since launched a campaign detailing allegations of prosecutorial misconduct, setting up an Internet site to rally supporters and calling on Congress to investigate tactics being used by prosecutors who are charging him both criminally and civilly.
On Monday, James will meet with U.S. Sen. Arlen Specter, R-Pa., who has conducted other hearings into alleged abuse by agents and prosecutors with the U.S. Justice Department.
The charges against James stem from an investigation into two Richfield men who told federal investigators they removed an allosaurus fossil from public lands in Emery County at James' behest. James then sold the fossils to a private Japanese museum, the charges state.
Neither of the Richfield men have been charged in the case, and both are witnesses against James, who ran a fossil preparation business in California and later out of his home in rural Pennsylvania.
Both witnesses have since admitted during sworn depositions they cannot remember the details of the alleged theft and one witness admitted under oath he lied to prosecutors about James' role in the theft.
On July 23, Bryner will hear one defense motion to have two assistant U.S. attorneys removed from prosecuting a state case and another motion to have state taxpayers pay for James' defense.
James maintains that prosecutors have unleased a barrage of civil and criminal motions that have drained all of his assets and destroyed his fossil business. The federal government has confiscated his house, which he had hoped to sell to pay for his legal defense.
A motion is still pending before U.S. District Judge Dee Benson to reverse the confiscation order.
In addition to state criminal charges, James and his wife, April, face federal civil charges. The government is seeking to recover more than $1 million from them as compensation for the allosaurus fossil.
E-mail: spang@desnews.com