CANYON CITY — The final steps to transfer the case of a federal firefighter charged with reckless burning in Grant County Circuit Court are under way.

Lawyers for the Forest Service burn boss were in Grant County Circuit Court May 14 and have agreed to draft a proposed order within 30 days to close the state case and transfer the case to federal court.

This comes after the case was already moved to the U.S. District Court in Pendleton, with an evidentiary hearing scheduled for July 11 and a jury trial set to begin Nov. 12 in federal court.

After the removal from circuit court to federal court, Grant County District Attorney Jim Carpenter said the circuit court judge asked for the proposed order to take it off the circuit court docket. Once filed, the circuit court case can be closed, he said.

“Defense counsel is preparing that (order) for my review before submitting to the court,” Carpenter said. “ I do not anticipate any issues.”

An attorney with the Angeli Law Group of Portland said the proposed order would involve the state case being closed, though the charge of misdemeanor reckless burning would not be dismissed, according to a court document.

“Removing a case from State to Federal court is unusual, and most participants, including lawyers and judges have never seen it done,” Carpenter told the Eagle. “Additionally, at the State level there is little guidance. We are all trying to figure out an acceptable process together, and have probably done so.”

Defense attorneys filed a motion on March 15 with the Pendleton division of the U.S. District Court for Oregon asking that the case against Forest Service burn boss Ricky Snodgrass be removed from the Grant County jurisdiction and placed in the hands of a federal judge. 

“The defendant made the decision to remove the case to federal court,” said Grant County District Attorney Jim Carpenter. “Had there been a legal basis to do so, the state would have objected to removal.” 

Carpenter said the defendant’s decision was primarily based on additional defenses a person has in federal court that do not exist in state court, including the defense of immunity when damaging the property of others while acting within the scope of federal employment. 

Grant County Sheriff Todd McKinley arrested Snodgrass on Oct. 19, 2022, while he was supervising a prescribed burn in the Malheur National Forest near Bear Valley. Embers from the planned burn area blew across the Izee-Paulina Highway and charred close to 20 acres of timber and grazing land belonging to a private ranch before the blaze could be put out.

It is believed to be the first time a Forest Service firefighter has been arrested in the course of doing their job.

On Feb. 2 of this year, more than a year after his arrest, Snodgrass was indicted on a single misdemeanor count of reckless burning by a Grant County grand jury. He was arraigned in Grant County Circuit Court on Feb. 16. A plea hearing was scheduled for April 1, but Snodgrass’ attorneys asked that the hearing be postponed pending the outcome of their request for case transfer to federal court.