Pipeline protester expected to go to trial

Lawyers expect a trial of two or three days for a man charged with obstructing police and trespassing as he protested construction of an oil pipeline.

Prosecutors and a lawyer for Christopher Wahmhoff told Calhoun County Circuit Judge James Kingsley on Monday they have not reached an agreement on a plea agreement and they expect the case to be tried.

Wahmhoff, 35, of Kalamazoo, a Green Party candidate for the U.S. Senate, is charged with obstructing a police officer and trespassing after he entered a section of Enbridge Inc. oil pipeline that was under construction near Division Drive and 16-Mile Road in Fedonia Township on June 24, 2013.

Wahmhoff said he was protesting the construction of the pipeline, built by the company that owned a line that ruptured near the Kalamazoo River in 2010, spilling about 1 million gallons of crude oil. Enbridge has spent about $1 billion in the cleanup, which is continuing.

Wahmhoff spent eight hours inside the pipe, which was being built to replace the line that ruptured.

Kingsley originally had dismissed the case, ruling for the defense that Calhoun County Sheriff Department deputies did not order him to leave, rather, just asked him.

But the Michigan Court Appeals ruled in favor of prosecutors, and after the Michigan Supreme Court refused to hear the case, ordered it back to circuit court for trial.

John Royal of Detroit, representing Wahmhoff, told the judge he expects to file a motion asking to call experts to the trial to argue environmental necessity as justification for Wahmhoff;s efforts to stop construction.

Kingsley said Royal was welcome to bring his motion but the judge seemed to hint that he would only allow testimony about the elements of the two charges of obstructing police and trespassing.

Kingsley said if the case is not resolved he does not know when it can be tried, since he has several criminal cases that must be tried first. Kingsley retires at the end of the year and said a new judge might hear the case.

Both Royal and assistant prosecutor Patrice Lewis said they expect the trial to take two or three days.

"I don't know when I can possibly shoe-horn this into my schedule," Kingsley said.

"We understand we have to take our place in line," Royal said.

Call Trace Christenson at 966-0685. Follow him on Twitter: @TSChristenson