A Vermont judge on Monday told Daniel Banyai to allow town officials onto the property of his Slate Ridge paramilitary training facility in Pawlet within 30 days or he faces going to jail.
“I will immediately consider a request made by the town of Pawlet to have you jailed until you do comply solely as a method of trying to convince you to come into compliance,” Judge Thomas Durkin told Banyai during a virtual hearing in the state’s Environmental Court.
Slate Ridge, which Banyai owns, has garnered local and national media attention since 2020. He has referred to the property in the past as a “professional gunfighting center” and had local far-right militia there for training.
Banyai has failed to comply with a previous court order from 2021 to end firearms training at Slate Ridge. Banyai is also court-ordered to allow town officials onto the property to see what structures are there that would lack valid permits, such as buildings and gun ranges, according to Merrill Bent, the town’s attorney.
Banyai earlier this month did pay the town a fine of $52,965. That payment was made following a lengthy fight with the town over violations of municipal and zoning rules that led to decisions against him in both the state’s Environmental Court and Vermont Supreme Court.
Monday’s hearing was to consider the town’s move to hold Banyai in contempt for failing to abide by the earlier 2021 court order. According to that order, Banyai had to tear down unpermitted structures on the property.
The town is seeking fines against Banyai for every day he fails to comply with that order.
Durkin, the judge, did not rule Monday on the town’s contempt request.
Instead, the judge ordered that Banyai permit a site inspection by town officials within 30 days at his property and to provide discovery material to the town, as required, as the town moves forward with its contempt request.
Bent told Durkin during Monday’s hearing that Banyai canceled last week’s site visit at the “last minute” after preparations had been put in place, including getting the Rutland County Sheriff’s Department to attend and securing all-terrain vehicles to allow people to get around the property.
Banyai’s attorney, Robert Kaplan, said during Monday’s hearing that Banyai had suffered a “medical problem” that may require surgery. Kaplan, citing privacy concerns, told the judge he didn’t want to divulge what the medical problem was during a public court proceeding.
The town’s attorney said fines should keep accruing until Banyai comes into compliance with the court order.
“Mr. Banyai is basically telling us right now that he gets to make the rules about when and where discovery is made and how the town gathers evidence, how the court hears evidence,” Bent said.
Kaplan told the judge Monday that he had no problem with a site visit and would work with the town and his client to make that happen. Kaplan said he is fairly new to the case, representing Banyai for only about a month, adding that it’s been a “wild ride” so far.
Banyai testified Monday that he had acquired a trailer that he plans to use to help remove a building at the property and hopefully “mitigate the hate from everyone” over it.
But, Banyai said, he has been unable to get the trailer to the building.
“Because of this Vermont mud season it’s very treacherous and virtually impossible to get it up, to get it into place,” he said.
Kaplan, his attorney, asked Banyai when he expected the conditions to change so he could use the trailer to remove the building.
“That’s the million dollar question,” Banyai said. “If Mother Nature would give us a break with rain I could do that expeditiously.”
He added that might not be the case until June.
Correction: An earlier version of this story misspelled two instances of Banyai’s surname.
