Igor Lytvynchuk arrived in a Honolulu courtroom on Wednesday and pleaded not guilty to two misdemeanor charges. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
Igor Lytvynchuk, the man who went viral after he was filmed throwing a rock at an endangered Hawaiian monk seal on Maui on May 5, arrived for his court date in a Honolulu courtroom on May 27. The 38-year-old Washington resident entered not guilty pleas for two misdemeanor charges.
The news crews that caught him outside the federal courthouse mark the first time he’s been seen on camera since the incident. When he was asked if he wanted to comment or apologize, he remained silent. His lawyers said simply, “No comment.”
Lytvynchuk and his lawyers say that he wasn’t trying to harm the seal — which was identified as a male monk seal known as R404 — but instead was trying to protect nearby turtles.
“There were two large turtles in the water. When he threw the rock, the intention was to scare the seal away. He had no idea, again, the significance of monk seals. He frankly didn’t know we had seals in Hawaii,” Lytvynchuk’s Honolulu-based defense attorney Myles Briener told Hawaiian media. “He assumed that when he saw the seal, the monk seal, pushing the turtles off of the rocks, that he was doing something good by scaring it away.”
Although cameras weren’t allowed in the courtroom, the proceedings lasted just under a half hour. Federal magistrate judge Rom Trader presided over the case, and according to Hawaii News Now, he ” banned Lytvynchuk from visiting beaches or approaching wildlife while in Hawaii.”
As of this writing, Lytvynchuk is out on a $25,000 bond. He must follow conditions of supervised release until his next court date on Wednesday, June 9, at 10 a.m. He is allowed to appear via teleconference from Washington for his next appearance. If convicted, he could face up to one year in prison for each charge, as well as steep fines.
