Kevin Jenkins

kevin@thespectrum.com

Hurricane’s mayor entered a plea agreement this week acknowledging he attempted to help a pair of hunters illegally poach two deer on the opening day of last year’s general rifle hunt.

John Wayne Bramall, 59, submitted the initialed plea bargain document in absentia to Kane County’s 6th District Court on Wednesday through his attorney, Ryan Stout. That precluded the need for a hearing scheduled the following day to resolve the case.

The sentence included an order to spend a year in jail and pay $4,738 in fines for each of two counts, but Judge Marvin Bagley stayed any incarceration and most of the fines as part of the probation agreement.

Bramall admitted attempting to help his codefendants, West Point resident Gordon Wesley Marble, 58, and Marble’s son, Clinton resident John Wesley Marble, 39, to take the deer from a hunt unit they didn’t have a permit for outside Bramall’s private “high fence elk hunting park” in Glendale, some 25 miles north of Kanab.

The senior Marble is the owner of an Ogden business that specializes in “cultured marble, cultured granite, engineered marble, and solid surface products in Utah.” The business has a Hurricane branch, in which Bramall has worked as the company’s secretary.

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Utah Division of Wildlife Resources Capt. Mitch Lane said in January that Bramall’s park is licensed for domesticated or farm-raised elk, but that Bramall illegally allowed the Marbles to hunt wild animals that had breached the barrier around the private ranch.

The DWR had already informed Bramall about the “protected” wild animals and that game officials were preparing to remove them from the Bramall’s Bristlecone Ranch hunting preserve, according to Lane. A DWR investigator reported he watched Bramall and the Marbles through a spotting scope as they searched for deer.

Gordon Marble killed the largest buck, with antlers about 26 ½ inches wide and large enough to be classified a trophy deer. The smaller deer taken by John Marble was not big enough to be classified a trophy animal, according to Lane.

The arrest report states Gordon’s deer wasn’t tagged, but he told the officer the tag had fallen off and Bramall had returned to where the animal was killed to search for it, but had been unsuccessful in finding it.

The Marbles also submitted plea agreement documents to the court Wednesday on charges of attempted wanton destruction of protected wildlife.

Bramall and the elder Marble had both faced felony charges, but the plea agreements reduced the counts to misdemeanors similar to John Marble’s charge.

Under the 18-month probation terms, Bramall must pay $500 of the fines plus restitution of $4,200 to the Help Stop Poaching Fund. Bramall must also complete 50 hours of community service arranged through the Kane County Volunteer Center.

The Marbles’ penalties are similar to Bramall’s, except that Gordon must pay $4,000 to the poaching fund and John must pay $200 to it. John’s plea was entered in abeyance so he can ask the court to dismiss it after completing his probation.

Follow reporter Kevin Jenkins on Twitter, @SpectrumJenkins. Contact him at 435-674-6253.