Ira Hansen, ousted Assembly speaker, not guilty in trapping case

By Kyle Roerink

Wednesday, Nov. 26, 2014 | 4:45 p.m.

Embattled Nevada Assemblyman Ira Hansen was found innocent after facing a misdemeanor charge of illegally setting animal traps.

A New River Township Justice Court judge ruled that Hansen was not guilty of a misdemeanor when he set four animal traps known as snares within 200 feet of public roadways in Churchill County.

The decision caps what’s been a yearlong battle and difficult month for Hansen, a Sparks lawmaker who recently stepped down as the Assembly speaker-elect.

In November 2013, the Nevada Department of Wildlife spotted Hansen removing traps that were within the 200-foot limit. The department assembled a case and the Churchill County District Attorney’s office decided to prosecute.

The wildlife department and the district attorney’s office alleged that the snares were not allowed to be set within the 200-foot limit.

The judge ruled that the law only applies to steel-jaw leghold traps — not snares, Hansen said after the verdict.

Hansen could have avoided the legal battle by paying the wildlife department a $100 fine.

Instead, he spent nearly $10,000 to fight the case as a “matter of principle,” he said.

“We cannot let professional government law enforcement agents abuse the power that they have,” he said.

Hansen said he’s been the victim of a vendetta posed by the wildlife department.

Hansen has been an outspoken critic of department policies since the 1990s. Before he was a lawmaker, he objected to department budget increases. He panned the department’s method of calculating the number of big-game animals illegally killed each year.

He filed a complaint with the Nevada attorney general against the department for not filling a records request.

A month later the department began its latest investigation.

The wildlife department denies allegations it targets Hansen.

The dispute was the latest in what’s been a long, turbulent history between Hansen and the wildlife department.

The wildlife department has flagged him for using nonregistered traps, unlawfully possessing a mountain lion, transporting wildlife without a permit and shooting a meadowlark.

At $300, the total cost of all the violations was less than a major speeding ticket.

He was last cited in 2004 but was found not guilty in trial.

Hansen is a well known trapper but even more recognizable for his politics.

After Republicans took control of the Legislature on Nov. 4, Hansen’s peers elected him as the Assembly speaker for the upcoming legislative session.

But Hansen didn’t have time to slam the speaker gavel.

On Friday, Gov. Brian Sandoval asked him to step down as from the leadership post amid a controversy that arose when newspaper columns written several years ago by Hansen resurfaced. National groups and state lawmakers condemned him last week for producing commentary that was insensitive to minorities, women and members of the LGBT community. The columns were written between 1994 and 2010.