A Forest Service employee arrested in 2022 after a prescribed fire he was overseeing strayed onto private property is seeking to have his case moved from an Oregon county court to federal court, where charges could be dismissed.
Lawyers for Ricky Snodgrass filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the District of Oregon to remove the case from Grant County, where the district attorney charged him with reckless burning, a misdemeanor, in the October 2022 incident.
In the filing, Snodgrass’ defense team from the Angeli Law Group in Portland said he was acting in his official federal capacity in supervising the planned fire on the Malheur National Forest and intends to argue that he’s immune from prosecution for that reason. The fire spread onto a ranch during unanticipated windy conditions and burned about 18 acres without injury to people or livestock, according to the filing.
Forest Service crews were able to put out the fire in around an hour, but in the meantime, Grant County Sheriff Todd McKinley arrived at the scene and arrested Snodgrass on the reckless burning charge, an Oregon state offense. He was indicted more than a year later, on Feb. 2, and arraigned Feb. 16 following a review by local authorities.
