Sunday's Sacramento Bee highlighted an upcoming Sacramento jury trial involving a charge of assault on a federal officer:
On a sunny February morning just over three years ago, Andrew Watkins was plowing a safflower field on farmland his family has owned for generations. He saw a stranger walking on his property to the east.
Watkins was 45 at the time and a well-known figure in California agriculture circles. He was no stranger to confronting trespassers on his rural property. Eighteen days earlier, he had detained a man at gunpoint on his property after finding him loading metal posts and a ladder into a pickup truck.
This is something officials say is a common occurrence in the area, where residents make citizen’s arrests while waiting for law enforcement to respond to 911 calls. Authorities say local ranches and farms are under siege from burglars, metal thieves and other criminals.
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So, Watkins jumped off his tractor that morning at about 8:15, got into his pickup truck and, armed with a semi-automatic pistol, drove toward a truck parked along his fence line to confront the stranger.
What happened next is a matter of intense dispute that will play out in a federal court trial scheduled to begin April 20 in Sacramento. Watkins has been charged with assaulting a federal officer with a deadly weapon, a felony that could net him 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
The stranger turned out to be U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service Special Agent Sean Mann, who was investigating reports of vernal pool damage in violation of the federal Endangered Species Act.
Such investigations are so common the local sheriff says he wishes federal officials would notify him before they show up to check on property, and they highlight the ongoing friction between farmers making a living off their property and government enforcement of regulations designed to protect habitats and endangered species. Complicating this issue is that the rural areas are the scene of constant thefts and burglaries and strangers are noticed quickly.
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In court documents, prosecutors say that in this case, even after Mann identified himself, Watkins persisted in threatening him with his pistol and told him he was being placed under citizen’s arrest.
“Things got heated, he drew down on me,” Mann later told a colleague, according to a Fish and Wildlife Service investigative report filed in court documents.
Watkins attorney William Portanova disputes that Watkins knew he was dealing with a federal officer, saying Mann was driving an unmarked vehicle, was wearing civilian clothes and that Watkins was looking into the bright, morning sun as he tried to protect his land.
“He absolutely did not know,” Portanova said. “It’s not true. The government’s wrong.”