Residents Can Help Set Sentence

Bannock County Prosecutor Mark Hiedeman says he plans to ask residents of Lava Hot Springs for opinions on what sentence he should recommend for the owners of Ligertown.

Robert Fieber and Dotti Martin, owners of the game farm at Lava Hot Springs, were convicted Thursday on 13 misdemeanor counts centered on how they kept and cared for lions, lion-tiger hybrids and wolf hybrids.

Criminal charges were filed after some African lions escaped from the ramshackle collection of pens and cages. Eventually, 19 lions were killed and others were sent to a California facility.

Sentencing by Magistrate Mark Beebe will be at least a few weeks away. The maximum penalty for maintaining a public nuisance is six months in jail and a fine of $300. Public defender Kim Claussen plans to appeal.

Hiedeman said an outright acquittal would have been a disaster. Thirteen convictions seemed fair, he said. The couple originally was charged with more than 100 criminal and zoning violations, a number trimmed to 16 by the time trial started.

The jury found them innocent on three counts.

Hiedeman plans a town meeting in Lava Hot Springs to get advice. “The whole community in Lava Hot Springs was victimized by these animals getting out,” he said.

Sheriff Lorin Nielsen said any sentence should forbid Fieber and Martin from ever keeping wild animals again.

The couple’s ability to pay fines could be debatable. In court documents filed in February, Fieber and Martin claimed the trial and their daily commute to the trial posed a financial hardship.

The county has condemned the property, giving Fieber and Martin about a month to clean up the squalid game farm. If they clean up the site, they keep their land.