Prosecutors Offer Michelino Sunseri a Plea Deal After He Was Found Guilty of Cutting a Switchback in Grand Teton

A federal prosecutor in Wyoming has offered Michelino Sunseri, a trail runner who was found guilty of cutting a switchback earlier this year, a plea deal. The athlete initially faced a potential ban from the park and a fine of up to $5,000. Now, he’s looking at a far less severe punishment.

In September, Sunseri was found guilty of cutting a switchback while running up and down the Grand Teton in 2024. Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), the public interest firm handling Sunseri’s defense, told Outside that prosecutors will now seek to dismiss the case in exchange for 60 hours of community service and a course on wilderness stewardship.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Wyoming called the plea deal “an evolution of what is right,” and one made “to preserve prosecutive and judicial resources while upholding the best interests of the public and the justice system,” reported the AP.

Federal magistrate judge Stephanie A. Hambrick, Sunseri’s sentencing judge, was less satisfied.

“It’s an interesting message you send to the public,” she told another Sunseri attorney, Ed Bushnell, in court, as reported by the Jackson Hole News and Guide. “If you whine and cry hard enough, you get your way.” Hambrick neither accepted nor rejected the plea deal. Instead, the judge said she will take 30 days to decide whether to accept the proposal and has scheduled a follow-up hearing for November 18.

Sunseri’s ill-fated run up and down the Grand occurred on September 2, 2024. While descending the peak, he took a shortcut on the 13-mile route, using an informal trail to bypass a switchback. As a result of the cut, Fastest Known Time—the group that oversees record keeping—refused to recognize his record.

But the 33-year-old’s choice didn’t just stymie his record attempt. It also landed him in legal trouble. Sunseri had violated a federal code, 36 CFR 2.1 (b), stating that “leaving a trail or walkway to shortcut between portions of the same trail or walkway, or to shortcut to an adjacent trail or walkway” is illegal in national parks.

Exactly one year later, on September 2, Sunseri was found guilty of a Class B misdemeanor for cutting the switchback. The charge carries a maximum penalty of up to six months in prison, though court documents obtained by Outside indicated that this was never in question. Still, Sunseri faced a permanent ban from Grand Teton National Park and a fine of up to $5,000. His team promptly appealed the guilty verdict.

Sunseri claimed he chose to cut the switchback not to save time, but to avoid the main trail, which was crowded with hikers by the time he was descending. “I was ahead of pace,” he told the AP. “I knew I was going to get the record regardless of which trail I took. I didn’t want to be yelling at people to get out of my way.”

He also argued that the sign visible in his direction of travel—downhill—which states “Short Cutting Causes Erosion,” did not clearly indicate that the trail was closed. (A sign at the other side of the cut, visible to those coming uphill, was more explicit, reading “Closed For Regrowth.”) “The trail has been sitting in its current state for decades,” ultramarathoner Joey Wilson told the AP. “If they really wanted to close that trail, they could plant seeds over it and put a log down. Trail closed. Do not cross.”

Shortly after Sunseri’s guilty verdict, the PLF told Outside that their client had already been offered several plea deals, but all of them would either require an admission of guilt and/or a ban from the park.

“These mountains mean everything to Michelino,” his team said. “Agreeing to give up such an integral part of his life because of a law he didn’t know he was breaking was unthinkable.”

The PLF declined to comment on this latest proposed plea agreement to Outside. Senior attorney Damien Schiff indicated that the proposal offered by the prosecution—community service and a wilderness stewardship course—is acceptable, and “more or less what Michelino has been offering to do from the get-go.”