UPDATE: Super Dell Pleads Not Guilty then Guilty a Day Later
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UPDATE: SALT LAKE CITY, UT – April 10, 2015 (GEPHARDT DAILY) 24 hours after declining to settle on a plea deal over harassing wildlife, Schanze, 45, ended up back to federal court Friday to change his plea to guilty.
He plead guilty to using an aircraft to harass wildlife and pursuing a migratory bird, both misdemeanors.
According to the U.S. Attorney’s Office, federal prosecutors made no concessions to Schanze as a part of his guilty plea to both counts.
SALT LAKE CITY, UT – April 9, 2015 – (Gephardt Daily) Dell Schanze, former owner and spokesman for of “Totally Awesome Computers!”(under the name “Super Dell”), was expected to enter a plea of guilty for the charge of kicking an owl in midair while operating a paraglider, but in a surprise move, Schanze refused to enter such a plea, and Federal Judge Dee Benson scheduled a trial for April 20.
When asked by Judge Benson if the facts claimed by the prosecutors were in fact correct, Schanze said that he would plead guilty, but that he wouldn’t lie and accept that he knowingly kicked an owl, which would make him look like an evil and horrible person. After nearly 30 minutes of discussion, the judge ended the hearing and sent the case to trial.
Schanze has now officially pleaded not guilty to the misdemeanor charges, and faces a maximum of one year in jail and a $100,000 fine if convicted.
The 45-year-old was charged in October 2014 for using an aircraft to harass wildlife and pursuing a migratory bird for a 2011 incident near Utah Lake that showed up in YouTube videos.
At a hearing in December, Schanze entered not guilty pleas to both charges, but asked U.S. Magistrate Brooke Wells to dismiss his case on the grounds that the video had been made by “an antichrist homosexual who hates me.”
