Anti-wolf activist Ron Gillett will not face a second trial on charges of assault and battery against pro-wolf activist Lynne Stone.
"I am not going to retry the case," Stanley Prosecuting Attorney Paul Fitzer said Wednesday.
Late last month, a six-member jury—two women and four men—returned to the Custer County Courtroom after deliberating for about two hours to tell Magistrate Judge Charles L. Roos they couldn't agree on whether Gillett was guilty of attacking Stone.
Speaking Thursday, Gillett's attorney John Lothspeich of Jerome said his client will be happy with the decision. He said Gillett is away and unavailable for comment.
Despite the fact that the case ended in a hung jury, Lothspeich said he is pleased.
"I'm sure he would like to have had complete vindication," he said.
The case stems from a March 25 altercation between Gillett and Stone near the Valley Creek Bridge in Stanley. Stone alleged that Gillett became angry and attacked her after she took several photographs of him yelling at her from inside his pickup truck.
Contacted Thursday, Stone said she felt that a second trial would have made clear that Gillett was guilty of assaulting her.
"He was the aggressor," she said. "He did assault me."
During the August trial, Gillett claimed the altercation only became physical because he felt his safety was being threatened. He said he acted to keep Stone from attacking him with her camera.
Fitzer said he decided against retrying Gillett for a variety of reasons, most notably the fact that a jury of his peers did not vote to convict him of the charges. He acknowledged that there is no way to know how many jurors voted to acquit and how many voted to convict.
"I really don't see the (second) trial going different," he explained. "This is essentially a 'he-said, she-said' situation.
"I don't think it is justified to the taxpayers of Stanley to retry this case."
The decision to not retry the case also means that a no-contact order prohibiting Gillett from coming in contact with Stone is no longer in place, Fitzer said.
Though she expressed disappointment in the decision, Stone said she isn't surprised that Gillett will not be re-tried. She said she has decided to move from Stanley to the Wood River Valley where public support for gray wolves is greater.
"I've pretty much had my fill of anti-wolf stuff up there," she said.
Ron Gillette
