The US Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is at it again. This time they overturned a conviction a one who admittedly stole three petroglpyhs because they had archaeological value under ARPA, not artifactual value. See below.
Ninth Circuit Reverses Convictions of Petroglyph Theft in US v. Ligon. On March 21, 2006, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the felony convictions of the defendants
for theft of government property under 18 U.S.C. § 641. Defendants had admitted to using a winch and roller device to excavate after dark three rock petroglyphs without permission. The petroglyphs were found in their possession. In pursuing its case, the government relied on the term archaeological value under the 1979 Archaeological Resources Protection Act and its implementing regulations. However, the Court of Appeals determined that that definition focused on “the value of archaeological information rather than the value of archaeological artifacts.” Therefore, the court was “constrained to reverse” the district court because the government failed to “introduce any evidence of ‘value’ within the meaning of
§ 641.”
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