Trump Pardons Trail Runner in Push to Curb Regulatory Overreach

The president’s pardon of the Grant Teton trail runner aligns with a May executive order against ‘overcriminalization’ of minor, regulatory offenses.

Michelino Sunseri stands outside a courthouse in Jackson, Wyo., in May 2025. Bradly J. Boner/Jackson Hole News Guide via AP

President Donald Trump has pardoned Michelino Sunseri, a record-setting mountain runner prosecuted for briefly stepping off a designated trail while setting a speed record on Wyoming’s Grand Teton. The case drew national attention to what legal experts describe as the overcriminalization of minor regulatory offenses.

In confirming that Trump signed the pardon, a White House official told The Epoch Times in an emailed statement that Sunseri’s case is a “prime example of excessive prosecution” and an example of regulatory overreach that burdens everyday Americans.

The pardon was signed on Nov. 7 and detailed three days later by both the Pacific Legal Foundation (PLF), which represented Sunseri in court, and Fior Productions, a Los Angeles-based company producing a documentary about the runner’s year-long legal saga. The case, which garnered support from civil-liberties groups across the political spectrum, has become a touchstone in the debate over the reach of federal rules into the daily lives of Americans.

Sunseri was convicted in September 2024 of a petty regulatory offense after taking a brief detour off an official trail while setting a new fastest-known time up and down the Grant Teton summit, an iconic 13-mile route in Grand Teton National Park. Days after his record-setting run, Wyoming-based federal prosecutors charged him with violating a rule that forbids leaving a designated trail or walkway.

According to PLF, the route—known locally as the “old climber’s trail”—was a long-used “social trail” rather than a restricted area and had been used by previous record-holders without incident.

“Not a single non-NPS [National Park Service] witness thought that the use of the old climber’s trail was legally prohibited,” PLF attorneys wrote in a brief. “Purported notice via signs, brochures, and maps was vague, inconsistent, or paired indistinguishably with recommendations or endorsement of off-trail activities.”

From Record Run to Federal Prosecution

Sunseri set the Grand Teton record on Sept. 2, 2024, climbing and descending the 13,775-foot peak in 2 hours, 50 minutes, and 50 seconds, nearly three minutes faster than the previous mark. The 13-mile route features more than 7,000 feet of vertical gain and exposed scrambling where a slip can lead to a thousand-foot fall.

After a congratulatory post from Sunseri’s sponsor, The North Face, park rangers reinterpreted a pair of small signs dating to the 1980s as a legal closure and referred the matter for prosecution. He was charged under 36 CFR § 2.1(b), a rule barring walking in nondesignated parts of protected areas, punishable by a fine and up to six months in jail.

Prosecutors initially sought a plea deal requiring Sunseri to pay a $5,000 fine and accept a five-year ban from Grand Teton National Park, terms that the Cato Institute said would have effectively driven the local runner and bartender from his community and threatened his sponsorship. Sunseri declined, offering instead to perform community service and assist in closing or rehabilitating the trail, but his offers were rejected.

Even after the National Park Service withdrew support for the prosecution, federal attorneys pressed ahead. Cato legal fellow Mike Fox called the case a “vindictive prosecution” that “erodes the rule of law and undermines public trust.”

The Fight Against Overcriminalization

The controversy reached Congress, where Reps. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.) and Harriet Hageman (R-Wyo.) sent a letter to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming describing the case as “a prime example of the problem of overcriminalization.” The lawmakers questioned whether the prosecution was consistent with Trump’s May 2025 executive order, “Fighting Overcriminalization in Federal Regulations.”

Trump’s order directs agencies to review all criminally enforceable rules and limit prosecution to cases involving clear intent or significant harm.

“The purpose of this order is to ease the regulatory burden on everyday Americans and ensure no American is transformed into a criminal for violating a regulation they have no reason to know exists,” Trump wrote.

The White House official told The Epoch Times that the presidential pardon is consistent with the principles outlined in that order, which aims to curb the use of criminal penalties for technical or low-harm regulatory violations.

“This case is a perfect example of overregulation and burdening the health and freedom of everyday Americans who simply wanted to enjoy the outdoors and beauty of our nation,” the official said.

Libertarian groups, including Cato and the New Civil Liberties Alliance, cited Sunseri’s case in filings and commentary, arguing that his conviction typified how vague or outdated rules can trap citizens acting in good faith. The case is “emblematic of the massive disconnect between the letter and spirit of the law and the unchecked power of unaccountable prosecutors,” Cato said in a June 17 blog post.

Sunseri acknowledged the pardon with gratitude and disbelief.

“It’s only fitting that something this absurd from the start ends in an equally surreal way,” he wrote in a Nov. 10 social media post. “I’m absolutely, incredibly grateful. But, it never should’ve gotten this far.”

PLF attorney Michael Poon said that the group is thrilled by Trump’s pardon but that the fight against regulatory overreach continues.

“We are thrilled that Michelino’s nightmare is over, but we’re not done fighting against unconstitutional regulations that give low-level park officials the power to criminalize harmless conduct,” Poon said in a Nov. 10 statement.

The Epoch Times reached out to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the District of Wyoming for comment on the pardon and the criticism over the prosecution, but did not receive a response by publication time.