‘In a trial, I think he’d get off’: Sublette County reacts to Cody Roberts’ felony animal cruelty plea deal

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DANIEL—Almost two years later exactly, the phone is still kept off the hook at the Green River Bar. 

The motivation for avoiding calls is similar to the reason why a middle-aged local couple, bellied up to the bar, didn’t want their names showing up online or in print. They’d rather not deal with harassment.  

Otherwise, the longtime residents were happy to talk to a WyoFile reporter who strolled in mid-afternoon Thursday, less than a day after it became public that fellow Daniel resident Cody Roberts, facing a felony charge of cruelty to animals, reached a deal that would require him to plead guilty or no contest. 

“I hope he does not go through with the guilty plea,” said the man at the bar, who professed to know Roberts well. “I would go to trial before I ever pled guilty.” 

His partner was on the same page: “We figured he’d fight it ‘til the end,” she said. 

“In a trial,” the man added, “I think he’d get off.”  

Roberts, who has consistently eschewed the media for the last two years, apparently didn’t want to risk it. After a grand jury of his Sublette County peers indicted him last summer, the 44-year-old Daniel resident faced the possibility of up to two years in prison. 

If the plea agreement is accepted by a judge and Roberts completes probation, he won’t see time behind bars. Instead, the agreed-to punishment would be a $1,000 fine and 18 months of supervised probation, during which time he could not hunt, fish or drink alcohol. A probation violation could land him in prison for up to two years.

The criminal case against Roberts stems from an incident that’s become Wyoming lore. On the night of Feb. 29, 2024, he allegedly acquired a wolf by running it over with a snowmobile and then brought it into the Green River Bar. Eyewitness accounts, photos and video evidence from the night suggests that Roberts made a joke out of the captive animal, even kissing it, before allegedly shooting it behind the bar. 

Biologists who know wolves say its languid behavior suggests that it was badly injured and likely suffering. 

When the incident and Roberts’ initial penalty — a $250 discretionary fine from the Wyoming Game and Fish Department — became public in April 2024, controversy erupted to a degree that’s difficult to overstate. Wyoming state agencies suspended social media pages because of the deluge of public criticism over the wolf’s treatment and light punishment. In the two years since, the tight-knit western Wyoming community was still rattled by the incident and bracing for Roberts’ prosecution. Now, a high-profile trial appears much less likely, though a judge must still sign off on the plea deal. 

“Seems a little anticlimactic,” said Pinedale artist David Klaren, who chatted during a break from sculpting.

Klaren was one of the few locals WyoFile spoke with who didn’t have particularly strong views about the way Roberts’ legal case is set up to end.  

“I don’t really have an opinion one way or another, about him settling,” Klaren said. “It’s part of the legal system.” 

Klaren was also one of few passersby and shop patrons and employees encountered Thursday who was willing to put his full name to his opinion. The trite saying that “everybody knows everybody” rings pretty true in Sublette County, home to just 9,000 residents. It became readily apparent on Thursday as WyoFile sought opinions about Roberts’ guilty plea. 

Two randomly approached residents had direct connections to the case. One was Roberts’ daughter. Two interview attempts later, WyoFile encountered a person who was on the grand jury. Both were friendly. Both declined interviews. 

Many others were willing to share their views, but didn’t want their names used. 

Inside the Pine Street barbershop, A Clipping Along, a barber putting the finishing touches on a crew cut had plenty of thoughts. The longtime resident theorized that Roberts was motivated to take a deal to bring an end to the harassment of his family and community, but she also didn’t believe that his actions fit the crime. 

“He shouldn’t have took it to the bar, shouldn’t have muzzled it, shouldn’t have put his tracking collar on it. He shouldn’t have done anything,” the barber said. “But also petting it and taking pictures is not torture.” 

The man whose hair she trimmed, a longtime resident and hunting guide, had a different take. He called Roberts’ actions “an asshole move” and said that he’s lost hunting buddies over a difference of opinion because they condoned it. 

“To torture shit, man, I’m just not not down with that,” the hunting guide said. “He brought a lot of shit to this community. People went after his family … That’s unfortunate, but you kind of reap what you sow.” 

As for Roberts’ plea deal and proposed punishment, the man said it was a harsher penalty than he expected. 

Early on, Sublette County law enforcement officials made it clear they disagreed with Game and Fish officials, who stated that the wolf was exempt from Wyoming’s animal cruelty statutes because it was captured where the species is classified as a predator, which under state law can be killed without a license by almost any means.

The investigation was slow going, taking a year and a half for charges to be filed. Once they were, Roberts’ attorney, Rob Piper, posed the same argument as wildlife managers — that wolves were exempted from animal cruelty statutes — as he tried to dismiss the case. But Sweetwater County District Court Judge Richard Lavery wasn’t persuaded, and in early February he formally moved the case toward a jury trial. 

Roberts’ plea agreement took many in Sublette County by surprise. 

“He shouldn’t have f****** pled out,” said J.T. Reese, who spoke during a break from a late-afternoon beer at the Corral Bar. 

“I don’t see how you can f****** prove torture,” Reese added. “Unless you’re f****** gonna argue that keeping it alive was the torture. He didn’t do anything that constitutes [torture], in my opinion.” 

If Roberts’ plea deal is accepted, Sublette County Attorney Clayton Melinkovich will no longer have to convene witnesses and amass evidence to convince jurors that it was torture. The next step in the legal case is a change-of-plea hearing, scheduled for Thursday. Sentencing would come later. 

Like Sublette County residents WyoFile spoke with, animal rights advocates had split views over this latest development. On Friday, Washington, D.C.-based advocacy groups founded by former Humane Society of the United States President Wayne Pacelle sent out a letter urging Judge Lavery to reject the plea agreement. 

“Respectfully, we are concerned about the broader message such a disposition would send,” attorney Scott Edwards wrote in a letter on behalf of Animal Wellness Action and Center for a Humane Economy. 

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“Animal cruelty laws serve not only to punish past conduct but also to deter future acts of abuse,” Edwards wrote. “When conduct widely regarded as extreme and prolonged cruelty results in probation and a modest fine, it may foster the perception that even egregious acts will carry little meaningful consequence.” 

But even within the national animal rights community, there are differences of opinion over the suitability of Roberts’ proposed punishment. The Humane World for Animals (formerly the Humane Society) sent out a press release praising the deal. 

“This plea deal marks a substantive advance in the history of American anti-cruelty law,” stated Nicholas Arrivo, managing attorney for the group. “Humane World for Animals is grateful to the prosecution team that successfully made Cody Roberts accountable for his black-hearted cruelty in a case that shocked the conscience of millions of Americans.”