Park City Council member’s attorney files motion to dismiss disorderly conduct charge

PARK CITY, Utah — An attorney representing Park City Council member Jeremy Rubell filed a motion today to dismiss the disorderly conduct charge against him.

Rubell was charged with disorderly conduct by Summit County Attorney Margaret Olson in January after an incident with a White Pine Touring ski instructor on December 28.

Rubell’s charge was amended earlier this year from disorderly conduct, a class C misdemeanor, to an infraction.

According to charging documents, a Nordic ski instructor employed by White Pine Touring was instructing three Park City residents in cross country skiing on the number one tee of the Park City Golf Club, adjacent to Rubell’s home on Thayne’s Canyon Drive.

The ski instructor alleged that Rubell, who was blowing snow off of his back deck, raised his middle finger to the instructor and “launched into a profanity-laden tirade,” after the instructor returned the gesture.

Rubell recounted a different version of events in a statement made in December. According to Rubell,  he was shoveling snow from his deck when the instructor began to make remarks directed at him, and when he stopped to ask what the problem was, the ski instructor raised his middle fingers in the air and called Rubell profane names.

In the motion to dismiss, Rubell’s attorney stated that the State has not provided any evidence that Rubell’s comments could be heard in a public place, a requirement of the disorderly conduct statute.

“The plain language of the disorderly conduct statute dictates that the area of the Park City Municipal Golf Course where the witnesses were situated is not a public place,” said the motion to dismiss. “This is not a place where a ‘substantial group of the public has access’. Utah Code § 76-9-102(1)(b). Unlike a public park or other recognized public places, access to this area during winter months is restricted to only those individuals willing to pay a monetary fee to patronize the private business White Pine Touring.”

Rubell did not immediately respond to a request for comment.