6 Months in Jail for Mountain Running?

WHEN MOUNTAIN RUNNER Michelino Sunseri climbed and descended Wyoming's Grand Teton in record time last year, he posted information about his route on social media. According to the Justice Department, Sunseri thereby implicated himself in a federal misdemeanor punishable by up to six months in jail.

- Jacob Sullum

The National Park Service, which initially recommended that Sunseri be prosecuted for his seemingly inadvertent use of an unapproved trail, reconsidered that referral in May. But the U.S. Attorney's Office in Wyoming was unfazed. Its puzzling prosecutorial persistence provoked criticism from two members of the House Judiciary Committee, who said it epitomized "the problem of overcriminalization."