Cody Roberts, the man who brought an injured wolf into a bar and posed for photos with the muzzled animal, should have his felony animal cruelty charges dismissed instead of having to stand trial, his attorney argued in new court documents.
Robert’s legal counsel, Robert Piper, made that request Friday while filing an amended motion to dismiss the indictment against his client. The seven-page legal document makes the case that Wyoming carved out an exemption in its animal cruelty laws for animals classified as predators, such as wolves.
The statutes, Piper wrote, “could not be clearer and more precise.” After enacting animal cruelty laws, the Wyoming Legislature “likely” realized that “such a broad prohibition would impact animal husbandry and agriculture throughout the State.”
Then state lawmakers added a “specific, clearly enumerated exception,” establishing that “[n]othing in this article may be construed to prohibit…[t]he hunting, capture, killing or destruction of any predatory animal, pest or other wildlife in any manner not otherwise prohibited by law.”
Piper, who did not respond to an interview request, added emphasis to the words “hunting, capture” and “in any matter.”
The legal argument Robert’s attorney makes was posed earlier by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, which stated that “animal cruelty laws … do not apply to predatory animals” in an April 2024 press release. The state agency’s initial response to the incident provoked widespread outrage. Wardens fined Roberts $250 for possession of warm-blooded wildlife instead of forcing him to make a mandatory court appearance and face possible stiffer penalties.
Sublette County Prosecuting Attorney Clayton Melinkovich disagreed with wildlife officials’ interpretation of state law. In July, he convened a grand jury. A month later, that 12-person panel indicted the Daniel resident on a charge of felony cruelty to animals, a crime that could put him in prison for up to two years.
Melinkovich declined an interview for this story, but the county attorney confirmed that he will respond to Piper’s motion to dismiss charges.
Sweetwater County District Court Judge Richard Lavery has scheduled a Jan. 28 hearing to consider the matter. If the case proceeds, Roberts, who pleaded not guilty, is set for a March trial.
Developments in the legal case against Roberts aren’t the only reason he’s been in the news this week.
The tactic Roberts allegedly used to acquire the wolf — running it down and striking it with a snowmobile in an act sometimes called “wacking” — is again coming under fire from federal lawmakers. Although prohibitions on the Wyoming recreational tradition have been attempted on the state level several times, lawmakers have not had an appetite for bringing an end to a practice that some members of the livestock industry say they need to pursue predators.
Out-of-state members of Congress have also taken on the issue. In September 2024, Rep. Nancy Mace, R-South Carolina, was the lead author of a bill dubbed the Snowmobiles Aren’t Weapons Act.
Wyoming’s delegation, including U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, opposed Mace’s bill. “With all due respect to my southern colleagues, we do not need members from districts that do not even drive snowmobiles trying to regulate our western way of life,” Lummis said at the time.
Although the Snowmobiles Aren’t Weapons Act died last Congress, a bipartisan group of federal lawmakers on Thursday introduced a bill of the same name establishing penalties for “any person who intentionally uses a motor vehicle to harass, pursue, hunt, shoot, wound, kill, trap, capture or collect a mammalian predator species on Federal land.”
“Using motor vehicles as weapons against wildlife has no place on our federal lands,” U.S. Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican, said in a statement. “This legislation makes clear that intentionally harassing, hunting, or killing animals with motor vehicles is unacceptable and will be met with serious consequences.”
In a November court filing, Piper suggested that Roberts may attempt to distance himself from the brutal form of hunting that members of Congress now target.
“In fact, the Defendant anticipates that one or more witnesses of the State may offer testimony that the said grey wolf was not struck with a snowmobile,” the attorney wrote.
They craze their cattle on public land. The wildlife belongs to all of us its not your right to kill them.
Snow mobiles are for fun, safety patrols and emergencies- there is no excuse for walking animals. Wolves are considered Keystone species for good reason!!! They clean up our environment, take the weak, young or injured which makes herds stronger and healthier!!! They help balance our biodiversity and ecosystems. This has all been proven in Yellowstone when the wolves were reintroduced. The myths by trappers and hunters are not true. There are new tools that are working deterrences which have stopped the lose of livestock!! Thereby creating a win win situation. It’s time to leave past practices and help the planet and wildlife thrive which will only benefit all of us!!!
There is plenty of public lands and National Parks to help save our lands, wildlife and beauty which millions of people come to see every year!!!! Working together we can establish rules that benefit livestock and wildlife conservation!! So let’s do that!!!
Thank you!!
“With all due respect to my southern colleagues, we do not need members from districts that do not even drive snowmobiles trying to regulate our western way of life,” Lummis said.
But then, with all due respect to my nominal representative, I give thanks that Rep. Lummis is stepping down. Odds are, she will be replaced by someone of similar ilk, stuck in the 1870s, both paws out to the Federal government, beholden to a few corporations. But, with the grace of God, perhaps we may be spared a repetition of the Bitcoin pitch.
If our western way of life means absolving WGFD contractors of sadistic behavior toward keystone species that lived on this continent for >500,000 years, maybe it is time for a different set of values.
On top of this, a recently passed House Bill, sponsored by of all people Lauren Boebert, seeks to strip all wolves of endangered species status in the US. I don’t think it will have any trouble passing the Senate, unless some sort of rider is attached, and I’m sure the current occupant on Pennsylvania Avenue will sign it. Whether wolves should or should not be managed (killed), like beauty, is in the eye of the beholder. The Wisconsin 2/21 “hunt” stunk up the air from coast to coast. Probably one of the reasons wolves were re-listed. Other than the coyote, I don’t know of another predator that generates more hate than wolves, which allows somebody like Mr. Roberts to do what he did. And for those who might think that a regulated season on wolves might stop illegal kills, it doesn’t. We are truly the most vicious species.
Cody Roberts is apparently unable to understand that the legal issue at hand is not how the young wolf was run down with a snowmobile; rather, the issue is that he inhumanely tortured the same wolf. There is absolutely no law that allows humans to torture animals. His lawyer, at least, SHOULD understand that.
Looks like the current bill only applies on federally managed lands.
That works for me, it would be nice if all public land were added, but Wyoming would never entertain that thought. Most of the things that happen on private land are handled under the three S’s anyway. So getting Federal holdings off limits is a step in the right direction.
Since when does “The Western way of life” include torturing wildlife. No matter what your opinion is of wolves, shame on anyone who thinks it is OK to torment them. Running an animal of any kind down with a snowmobile causing fear and ultimate pain and death is not OK. Then the behavior of Cody Roberts just adds to the inhumanity that this is.
His behavior was ridiculous and uncalled for.. He is a man with a huge ego and thought he was some hero taking it in to the local bar to parade it around and continue the unnecessary abuse ..and while others watched makes me sick
Well said!
This case is a great advertisement for enacting laws like Mace’s. It is also a black eye for Wyoming if the state continues to sanction animal cruelty. Where are the hunters like TeddyR who believe in “fair chase” and ethical hunting? Why aren’t they speaking out?
“The Western way of life”
If it moves kill it. Because here in Wyoming, we fear everything, and everything is out to get us.
Just a very sad state of mind indeed.
Wyoming’s delegation, including U.S. Sen. Cynthia Lummis, opposed Mace’s bill. “With all due respect to my southern colleagues, we do not need members from districts that do not even drive snowmobiles trying to regulate our western way of life,” Lummis said at the time.
“Our Western Way of Life”. Says it all.
this is especially rich since Lummis spends most of her day on bills that have nothing to do with Wyoming
“we do not need members…trying to regulate our western way of life,” Lummis said. Really? The Wyoming Freedom Caucus aligns with and follows the national Freedom Caucus’s agenda, adopting similar hardline stances on issues like immigration, taxes, gun rights, DEI, and cultural issues. it is time to vote in folks who represent ALL of wyoming, and can think for themselves.
I live here in Wyoming, and this masochistic behavior is not the western way of life for all of us.