One giant leap for mankind

From the Billings Gazette:

In a ruling that could have far-reaching implications for sportsmen’s access, a Douglas [Wyoming] man has been acquitted of trespassing after he jumped from one corner of public land to another, crossing the space above adjoining private property.

“Corner jumping” is the term used to describe stepping from piece of property where four sections of land meet to reach an opposite corner without touching the other two parcels, like a diagonal move on a checkers board. …

The case began Sept. 23 when Kearney, while hunting, stepped from one parcel of public land to another that meet at a corner where two pieces of private land also meet.

Using a global positioning system device, Kearney found a surveyor’s pin that marks the intersection of the four parcels, and he did not step in or physically touch the private lands when he crossed the corner.

“I did this, and I was accosted by a landowner and a Game and Fish representative on public land,” Kearney said. “They asked how I got there, and I told them, and they told me that was against the law in Wyoming. … I couldn’t believe that was true because I never stepped on private land.”

Nearly a month later, Kearney was cited for trespassing.

“From my overall experience, it appeared to me that the Game and Fish was under a tremendous amount of pressure by this very wealthy hobby rancher to prosecute me for accessing thousands of acres of public land,” he said.

He decided to challenge the citation because he didn’t think he had broken the law. On March 24, after a nonjury trial, Castor found Kearney innocent.

“It’s unfortunate that I had to waste a couple of days of elk hunting and my own money to see this through, but it was a matter of principle,” he said.

Kearney’s attorney and the prosecutor, Deputy Albany County Attorney Torey Racines, could find no definitive answer in Wyoming case law to interpret whether corner jumping is prohibited.

“There’s case law from other states, and there’s arguments made on both sides as to what the law should be,” Racines said.

In court documents, Racines noted that Wyoming law specifically grants landowners sovereignty of the space above their lands – except for aircraft use – and even the U.S. Supreme Court grants landowners ownership of “at least as much of the space above the ground as they can occupy or use in connection with the land.”

On the other hand, a recent Massachusetts Supreme Court ruling stated there is “no place in the modern world” for the ancient civil trespass doctrine that “he who owns the soil owns upward unto heaven.”