JACKSON—Assistant U.S. Attorney Ariel Calmes used the word “outlandish” in closing arguments to describe Tom Mangelsen’s response to a minor traffic violation. 

“This is a whole lot of work for probably a $150 ticket,” Calmes told U.S. Magistrate Judge Mark Carman during a bench trial in the Clifford P. Hansen Courthouse last week.

That ticket was for allegedly slowing and obstructing traffic at the site where Grizzly 610 — a daughter of record-setting celebrity Grizzly 399 — was lying wounded on the side of Highway 26 in Grand Teton National Park after a vehicle strike. 

Mangelsen, a 78-year-old wildlife photographer whose fame has grown alongside the famous Teton grizzly bears, is indeed spending a lot of time and energy defending himself. He’s doing it because he doesn’t believe he broke the law, he told WyoFile. 

“I’ll spend probably $20,000 by the time I’m done,” Mangelsen said. “If I get found guilty for slowing down and stopping when the bears are in the road, it’d be a terrible injustice.” 

On Friday, Calmes and Mangelsen’s attorney, Ed Bushnell, spent hours examining and cross-examining witnesses and reviewing evidence that included bodycam footage, cellphone videos and schematics of the scene. During an all-day trial that illuminated tensions between Mangelsen and the National Park Service officials who manage roadside grizzlies, the attorneys tried to piece apart what happened the afternoon and evening of Oct. 9, 2023. Grizzly 610, then with three subadult cubs, had been hit that day by what was likely a pickup with “dually” wheels, according to skid marks on the highway surface. After barely moving for hours while injured, the now 18-year-old sow bounced back quickly and found her feet while seemingly healthy, the Jackson Hole News&Guide reported at the time.

The federal government’s case against Mangelsen rests on the eyewitness accounts of two rangers who were on scene: bear management specialist Tyler Brasington and law enforcement officer Brett Timm. 

Timm, who issued Mangelsen a mandatory court appearance violation notice, wrote that he “observed a vehicle” driven by the photographer slow to what he guessed was 5 mph near 610’s location while holding up four other vehicles. The ranger felt Mangelsen’s driving could cause a “bear jam,” a term for when traffic builds and people amass because a bruin is in sight.  

“In this case on the highway — with an injured grizzly and three yearlings, and we don’t know where they’re at — it [a bear jam] absolutely can’t happen,” Timm told the courtroom during examination. 

Mangelsen’s behavior — he drove slowly by the injured Grizzly 610 at least four times that day — was the “most egregious that day,” Timm said. 

In the photographer’s defense, Bushnell pulled Timm’s bodycam footage and played it in the federal courtroom to scrutinize the officer’s written account of what occurred. While Timm’s report noted the precise time he said he witnessed Mangelsen slow traffic, that portion of the video, which Bushnell played during the trial, showed the law enforcement officer facing and engaging a visitor in a white van in a highway-side pullout marking the east entrance to the park. Mangelsen was approximately 0.4 miles away, and not in view of the body camera. 

Under oath, Timm stuck to his story: That he watched Mangelsen impede four other vehicles over 700 yards away while having a conversation and facing a different direction. The officer turned his head, he said, but not his torso.

“Sir, you saw all that while having contact with the white van?” Bushnell questioned the ranger. 

Timm responded, “Yes.” 

Bushnell seized on the contention during closing arguments. “There’s no way Mr. Timm could have seen four cars stacked behind Mr. Mangelsen at the time he said he did,” the attorney said. “It just couldn’t have happened.” 

Mangelsen’s defense alleged that he was unfairly targeted by Teton Park rangers who were biased against him and exploiting a “subjective” statute. The photographer can be a vocal critic of the park, and he’s repeatedly publicly rebuked an annual elk hunt that’s caused grizzly conflicts, and has come out against research trapping operations to fit GPS collars onto grizzlies. 

Timm, however, testified he did not know Mangelsen and had never met him. The ranger, a five-year veteran of Grand Teton, said he wasn’t aware it was Mangelsen until he took possession of his driver’s license. The photographer, who owns a gallery in Jackson and produced a number of photobooks, is famous enough that he’s been featured on CBS News’ 60 Minutes.

Arguing rangers are biased against Mangelsen, Bushnell attempted and failed to get the court to admit a video the photographer secretly recorded of Brasington, the ranger nearest Grizzly 610, from 2021. Mangelsen provided WyoFile with that video, which was recorded in the aftermath of a separate roadside grizzly-related charge against Mangelsen that was later dropped. In it, the park ranger told the photographer other rangers were trying to “roll” him and that he thought it was “inappropriate.” 

The court did admit into evidence a witness statement from Brasington about a 2020 incident, which involved Grizzly 399 on a similar stretch of Highway 26. In that statement, Brasington wrote that he told Mangelsen “he could rove and drive by as many times as he would like” and that it was “helpful” because he “has the knowledge to stop and allow the bears to cross the road safely.” 

Three years later, Mangelsen was cited for doing the same. 

“Did you think you had done anything wrong?” Bushnell asked his client, who responded only, “No.” 

Exchanges between Mangelsen and Calmes suggested that relations with some Teton Park officials aren’t great.  

The photographer admitted to referring to some law enforcement rangers as a “fuckhead” and “jackass.” Mangelsen was part of an unsuccessful effort to try to reduce the speed limit on Highway 26, currently 55 mph during daylight hours, where Grizzly 610 was hit. He was “disappointed” the park didn’t lower the speed limit, “for the bears,” he told the court. 

Carman did not render his verdict during the trial. The magistrate judge said he wanted to review body camera footage and other videos taken by Mangelsen and others before making his judgment. He’ll be issuing a written ruling.