The criminal killing of an elk underscores the need to restrict the use of loaded guns in national parks, Chief U.S. District Judge William Downes said Tuesday.

"You took a magnificent bull elk in a United States park, then engaged in acts to cover up your crime," Downes said before sentencing Michael David Belderrain to four years in prison.

"Your case represents a classic public policy answer to the question: 'Why do we not want to have people with indiscriminate access to firearms in a national park?'

"And your crime answers that question," he said. "We don't."

Downes' comment at Belderrain's sentencing hearing in Casper coincides with a growing national debate about the U.S. Department of Interior's proposed review of a ban on loaded guns in national parks and lands administered by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

Supporters have said the ban on loaded guns in national parks infringes on their Second Amendment rights and their ability to defend themselves from human and animal predators. Opponents, including conservation groups and park rangers, have said the ban has made national parks among the safest places in America.

The ban didn't stop Belderrain.

On Dec. 14, 2005, he killed an elk standing in Gallatin County, Mont., just outside the Yellowstone National Park boundary, decapitated it, and dragged the head to his truck inside the park, he said when he changed his plea on Aug. 22.

He could have faced a sentence of between 30 months and 57 months in prison.

On Tuesday, Belderrain's federal public defender, Daniel Blythe, described his client as a person who lived a little on the edge and was impulsive.

On the day of the crime, Blythe said, Belderrain saw the elk walking and he described it as "a beautiful, wonderful elk."

Downes interrupted, saying, "one of the most notable specimens in North America in recent years."

Blythe continued, saying his client acted impulsively when he shot the animal.

Belderrain has a good family, works in a mine and has a good work ethic, Blythe said.

Before Downes imposed the sentence, Belderrain gave a tearful apology as he admitted he deprived others of viewing the elk.

"I do love hunting," he said. "That elk, I did take away from the people. I seen it and I shot it."

Belderrain, 36, has donated more than $50,000 to the Rocky Mountain Elk Foundation because he wanted to make sure his children have the same privileges he did, he said.

He finally asked for leniency.

Assistant U.S. Attorney John Barksdale, arguing for a stiffer sentence, told Downes the defendant was prohibited from possessing guns and had committed other crimes, including aggravated assault in Sanders County, Mont., in 1999.

The image of Belderrain as impulsive and on the edge did not excuse his behavior, Barksdale said. "He's stepped over the line one too many times."

Downes then imposed the sentence.

After referring to Belderrain's actions as a reason to keep loaded weapons out of national parks, Downes recounted previous, lightly punished criminal behavior such as operating an outfitting business outside the law, alcohol-related crimes, and game and hunting violations.

That history persuaded him to levy a stiff punishment for the current counts, he said.

A light sentence would send the wrong message to prospective offenders that the courts would tolerate committing crimes in a national park in the district of Wyoming, he said.

"You thought you were above the law," Downes said. "This sentence will emphatically teach you (that) you are not above the law."

Besides the 48 months for being a felon in possession of a firearm, and 12 months for the two game violations -- all to be served concurrently -- Downes ordered Belderrain to pay $6,000 in restitution to the Yellowstone National Park Service Restitution Fund, plus a $1,000 fine.

Belderrain has 10 days to file an appeal, and will be able to be on supervised release during the appeal, and for three years after the prison term, Downes said.

Conditions of supervised release include committing no other crimes, not using alcohol or other drugs, not possessing guns, seeking anger management and mental health counseling, and staying out of national parks, he said.

After the sentencing, Blythe said he intends to file an appeal with the 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Denver on a double-jeopardy issue because Belderrain already had pleaded guilty to the same charges in Montana.

Reach Tom Morton at (307) 266-0592, or at Tom.Morton@trib.com.