The Latest: Court considers lawsuit in artifact suicide case

DENVER – The Latest on an appeals court hearing on lawsuit over artifact looting case that ended in suicide (all times local):

12:55 p.m.

A lawyer for the family of a Utah doctor who killed himself after his 2009 arrest in an artifact looting investigation says Bureau of Land Management agents used excessive force.

Attorney Shandor Badaruddin on Tuesday asked the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver to revive a lawsuit by James Redd’s family alleging the bureau treated him unfairly when agents dressed in paramilitary gear overwhelmed him at gunpoint at his house in the small town of Blanding, Utah.

The lawyer says more than 50 agents swarmed the house in an unnecessary show of force. But Laura Smith, an attorney for one of the agents, says they were necessary to collect large amounts of evidence.

Red was one of 24 people indicted after a two-year federal investigation.

A judge ruled against the family last year.

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9 a.m.

The family of a Utah doctor who killed himself after his 2009 arrest in an artifact looting investigation is asking an appeals court to revive an excessive force lawsuit against the Bureau of Land Management.

The 10th Circuit Court of Appeals’ hearing is set for Tuesday morning in Denver.

James Redd’s family argues that he was treated unfairly when agents dressed in paramilitary gear overwhelmed him at gunpoint at his house in the small town of Blanding, Utah.

He was one of 24 people indicted after a two-year federal investigation.

U.S. District Judge Robert Shelby ruled against the family last year, saying the mere presence of federal agents in SWAT-like gear didn’t constitute an excessive show of force.