A Nephi-based wilderness therapy program and its manager are not to blame for a teenage boy's hyperthermia death this summer, a judge has ruled.
Fourth District Judge Donald Eyre on Monday dismissed a charge of second-degree felony child-abuse homicide against Skyline Journey program manager Mark Wardle and parent company WOW Developments.
Ian August collapsed while hiking July 13 in the mountains of Utah's west desert. The 14-year-old Austin, Texas, boy — who was 5-foot-4 and weighed about 200 pounds — began sweating excessively early in the hike and refused to continue. Counselors moved August into the shade, called 911 and began CPR. August was dead when emergency personnel arrived two hours later.
Eyre determined Skyline Journey was adequately staffed at all times and took precautions that many similar youth camps do not.
"I got the impression that he thinks it was more of an accident than caused by the conduct of the program," Deputy Millard County Attorney Brent Berkley said. "Certainly, we disagree and are disappointed."
Berkley said he plans to ask the Utah Attorney General's Office to appeal the decision, saying August's death was clearly avoidable.
"I simply think that they shouldn't have had the kids out there at all," he said. "It was too hot, it was too strenuous of activities . . . to be out in the desert 24 hours a day for a young 14-year-old kid who wasn't used to doing that activity. That's what killed him."
The temperature that day has been an issue in the case. The area is about 70 miles outside Delta, which reached a high of 110 degrees July 13.
Skyline Journey officials have said the temperature at the location and time of August's death was below 95 degrees — the temperature at which a group must quit hiking according to state regulations. But the Millard County Sheriff's Office, which investigated the death, believes the temperature was above 95.
The state Human Services Office of Licensing revoked Skyline Journey's license in October, a decision Skyline has appealed.
Wardle, 47, did not return a call for comment Tuesday morning. Another Skyline employee, Leigh Hale, was also initially charged in August's death, but that charge was resolved when Hale agreed to cooperate with the state during the prosecution of Wardle and WOW.
E-MAIL: awelling@desnews.com