I’m a hiker, and the thought of going off with a couple of friends for a good hike, only to have someone end up injured or dead because of malice aforethought by some anonymous douchebag pisses me off. Luckily, the anonymous douchebags in this case weren’t very bright about keeping their fool mouths shut.
I’d like to know when the trial date is, and then hear what the verdict & sentence are. If someone got hurt, then a whole slew of charges could be filed, including assault, mayhem and possibly attempted murder, but thankfully that didn’t happen. Unfortunately, that means that authorities are prolly limited to charging the pair of idiots with something like misdemeanor reckless endangerment, which means that they’ll get off fairly lightly for their heinous acts.
Let me be the first to say that if you’re going to setup traps to kill or maim people, do NOT go around telling others about the traps. Totally defeats the purpose.
And if you’re going to use stakes, use sharpened metal spikes instead. Wood will rot and decay or get eaten up over time, reducing the effectiveness of your trap.
I agree with your pitting, SnowBoarderBo, but you should have quoted the following from your linked article:
The fuckers claimed it was meant for “wildlife”. A spiked boulder at Human head height was meant for “wildlife”. Unless they have velociraptors in the area, I don’t buy that at all.
They are being charged with a misdemeanor? Isn’t that the same category as a parking offence? Shouldn’t they be charged with murder - setting a deadly trap with malice aforethought?
Also, a trap along a hiking trail was once used in a crime novel of the Anna Pigeon series. I wonder if they read that book and thought “good idea” or just watched some Rambo/ played some video games.
First off, a spiked boulder swinging at human head height is just going to hit a sasquatch in the shoulder (or mid upper arm if it’s a male). It’s not going to hurt it.
Second off: The spiked boulder is tied to a tree. Not many people know this, but bigfeet love tetherball. Last time I played that game with one of those chewbaca looking motherfuckers, he beat me 11 to 9 and got my last six pack of Sierra Nevada. There is no way in hell I’ll play using a spiked boulder.
I haven’t hiked that trail (Provo was an hour’s drive south of me), but I’ve hiked trails in the mountains near Salt Lake City. Certainly Provo, one of the larger metropolitan areas in Utah, and home of Brigham Young University, is a populous area with well-frequented hiking trails. Big Spring is apparently a short (3.5 - 5 mile, depoending on your source) trail that is rated “easy”, is just off the road, and is even used for mountain biking:
It’s not as if they set these traps somewhere off in unfrequented wilderness. This report notes that they were half a mile from the trailhead, and that the trail is “popular”:
If the local legal system can’t come up with something that will net these idiots some actual jail time I’d say the laws on the books need some updating and or the local prosecutors need to be a bit more creative/zealous.