United States v. Kyle R. Jones, Thayde L. Jones and Robert E. Gevara

On December 22, 1977 Forest Service officers and archaeologists allegedly observed the defendants, Kyle Jones, Thayde Jones, and Robert Gevara, digging in Indian ruins located on federal government land in the Brooklyn Basin of the Cave Creek Range District of the Tonto National Forest. The officers arrested the defendants, and a grand jury returned a two count indictment. Count I of the indictment charged that the defendants wilfully and knowingly stole Indian artifacts consisting of clay pots, bone awls, stone metates and human skeletal remains, of a value in excess of $100, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 641 and 2. Count II charged that the defendants, by means of a pick and shovel, injured the Indian ruins located in the Brooklyn Basin of the Cave Creek Range District of the Tonto National Forest, causing damage to the property in excess of $100, in violation of 18 U.S.C. §§ 1361 and 2.

The defendants moved to dismiss the indictments, and in a published opinion, United States v. Jones, 449 F.Supp. 42 (D.Ariz. 1978), the district court granted the motion. After reviewing the legislative history of the Antiquities Act, 16 U.S.C. § 433 , and the theft and malicious mischief…