TWO HARBORS—A Lake County jury took less than an hour on Monday to convict Ely resident Barney James Lakner on six charges stemming from a January joy ride on a snowmobile that took Lakner and his friend, Edward Zupancich, deep into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness.

Lakner and his attorney Chris Stocke had hoped to convince a jury that Lakner was not guilty of the most serious charge—that he had attempted to flee law enforcement officers when they tracked him down near the U.S.-Canadian border. But Lakner never took the stand, leaving it to his attorney to make his claim that he had continued to speed away when the officers approached because he was searching for safer ice before coming to a stop.

Conservation officers testified that Lakner had sped up to get away from them and that their pursuit of Lakner didn’t end until he was physically tackled from his speeding sled. The jury made it clear they didn’t buy Lakner’s explanation, and the resulting guilty verdict could send Lakner back to jail, possibly for as long as three years.

Lakner came to notoriety in 2007 when he led a group of young men from Ely on a summertime spree into the Boundary Waters during which the group terrorized wilderness campers. The group came to be known as “The Ely Six” in a case that drew national headlines. Lakner spent three years in prison for his actions on that day, but the jury in the latest case never heard about that conviction, nor about Lakner’s 2000 gross misdemeanor conviction for reckless operation of a snowmobile and obstruction of legal process. The judge in the case, Michael Cuzzo, had earlier determined that those prior convictions could only come before the jury if Lakner chose to testified. He waived that right on Monday.

Why Lakner chose to take the case to a jury isn’t clear. Such violations result in plea agreements in about 98 percent of cases, and defendants typically are allowed to plead to lesser offenses to save the state or county the expense of a trial. The two sides never came to an agreement in this instance, and it could lead to a stiffer sentence for Lakner than might otherwise have been available.

Lake County Assistant Attorney Lisa Hanson said she couldn’t comment on the case until after sentencing, now set for Aug. 3. Lakner’s defense attorney Chris Stocke did not return a phone call seeking comment.

In addition to the felony charge of fleeing an officer, Lakner was convicted on five other misdemeanor counts, including possessing beverage cans in the BWCA, possessing mechanical equipment in the wilderness, littering, reckless driving, and failure to display registration.

Lakner was conditionally released on $20,000 bail and ordered not to enter the Boundary Waters.