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President Donald Trump pardoned Driggs, Idaho-based ultrarunner Michelino Sunseri, his legal team says.
Jackson attorney Ed Bushnell represents Sunseri and told KHOL he received a copy of a signed pardon dated Nov. 7 but declined to share the document before deadline. The Pacific Legal Foundation also sent out a press release today. The Trump administration’s record of clemency grants states it was updated Nov. 7, but the list does not yet include Sunseri.
Magistrate Judge Stephanie A. Hambrick found him guilty in September of cutting a switchback in Grand Teton National Park last year and the 33-year-old was scheduled to be sentenced soon, though a new Wyoming prosecutor recently withdrew his support of the case.
Sunseri ran up and down the Grand Teton in just over 2 hours and 50 minutes on Labor Day 2024. But what he initially claimed to be the fastest known time by nearly three minutes was rejected by the official records website FastestKnownTime.com after his posted route revealed he took a defunct trail closed for vegetation regrowth.
The shortcut was a misdemeanor punishable with up to 6 months in jail, a park ban and a fine of up to $5,000.
Emails obtained by the defense team earlier this year revealed that D.C. park officials had withdrawn support of prosecution, citing “overcriminalization.” Prosecutors recently agreed to seek a dismissal if the runner completed 60 hours of community service and a course on wilderness stewardship.
With the case seemingly cleared, his legal team is “thrilled that Michelino’s nightmare is over.
“But we’re not done fighting against unconstitutional regulations that give low-level park officials the power to criminalize harmless conduct,” Pacific Legal Foundation attorney Michael Poon said in a press release.
