United States v. Blaine Johnson

We affirm a conviction under the Wild Free-roaming Horses and Burros Act, Pub.L. 92-195, 85 Stat. 649, 16 U.S.C. § 1331 et seq.

Johnson was convicted of removing a wild free-roaming horse from public lands, in violation of § 8(a)(1) of the Act, 16 U.S.C. § 1338 (a)(1). The case was tried to the court, upon stipulated facts. On appeal, Johnson argues only that the Act is vague and overbroad and that, for those reasons, it is unconstitutional.

I. Facts.

Investigator High of the Bureau of Land Management saw a man and two stock trucks parked on a road on public land, about 32 miles west of Austin, Nevada, at 9:05 p. m., on July 23,1980. One truck had Utah license plates. The next day, High learned that a Utah stock truck had been seen in Austin, Nevada, at about 5:00 p. m., loaded with what appeared to be wild horses. On July 26, High went back to the place where he had seen the two trucks and found tracks showing that a truck had been backed across the road at six places. A dead mare, which would have had a colt nursing, was found near one place. There were signs that the mare had died in a ditch that the truck had backed into, and had been dragged by the truck to the place where…