Judge jails man in moose abuse case and warns: Wyoming values wildlife

A Uinta County judge issued a stark warning Friday when he sentenced three men for abusing an infirm moose in the second high-profile animal cruelty case in western Wyoming courts this year.

“Wildlife of Wyoming belongs to the people of Wyoming,” 3rd District Court Judge James Kaste said during a court hearing Friday in Evanston. “You do this kind of nonsense in Wyoming, where we value our wildlife, you’re going to jail.” 

Kaste then jailed one of the men, who had agreed to a plea deal that did not call for time behind bars. Uinta County rancher and former state livestock brand inspector Justin Martin appeared stunned as he was immediately taken into custody to serve a 30-day sentence at the Uinta County Detention Center.

Last December, prosecutors charged the 55-year-old Martin with two felony counts of cruelty to animals, accessory before the fact, in connection to the mistreatment of moose twice in May 2021.

His son Range Martin, 24, and a third man, Kylan Platt, 23, of Malad City, Idaho, were each charged with a single felony count of cruelty to animals. 

In one incident, authorities say Range Martin lassoed an unhealthy and likely blind cow moose around her neck and dragged her through high and dense sagebrush before the animal collapsed. Prosecutors also accused Platt of roping, riding and aggressively spurring a moose — not definitively determined to be the same moose — on Justin Martin’s 5,000-acre M Arrow Ranch north of Bear River, a small town near the border with Utah.  

Justin Martin encouraged and celebrated the behavior, saying “All right now, spur that son of a bitch … spur on him!” as he filmed the Platt incident. When he shared the footage with several friends and family members, via text and email, he told one friend “Looks like he was ran down a little. That’s good s—. Not many kids can say they have rode a moose,” authorities say. 

The three men initially pleaded not guilty to felony animal cruelty charges and faced the prospect of prison time before accepting plea deals this summer. In the cases of Range Martin and Platt, the judge mostly followed the terms of their plea agreements, sentencing them to three years of supervised probation under a state law that allows first-time offenders to avoid felonies on their permanent record if they stay out of trouble. 

Justin Martin, faced a suspended prison sentence in favor of supervised probation. But on Friday, Kaste ordered the older of the three defendants to serve jail time. Kaste also increased his supervised probation from two to three years. 

The judge also sentenced all three men to 576 hours of mandatory community service, which Kaste said was “the most productive thing I can do,” suggesting an array of opportunities. “You could do something for the Game and Fish,” he said. 

While Kaste dismissed the monetary fines outlined in their respective plea agreements, each man will pay $275 in court-related fees and costs. 

The case drew swift and inevitable comparisons to another recent animal cruelty case in Wyoming. Cody Roberts ignited international outrage after running down a wolf with a snowmobile in February 2024. The injured wolf’s mouth was taped shut when Roberts brought the suffering animal to the Green River Bar in Daniel. In photos, Roberts posed alongside the animal before shooting it behind the bar. 

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department initially issued Roberts a $250 fine for the incident before Sublette County Prosecutor Clayton Melinkovich, amid global anger over the act, chose to pursue a grand jury indictment. Roberts eventually pleaded guilty to felony animal cruelty and accepted a plea agreement of 18 months of supervised probation. Roberts never spent time in jail. 

The terms of Justin Martin’s plea agreement were identical to and determined by the Roberts’ case, special prosecuting attorney Gaston Gosar said. “That’s how we came to these terms,” Gosar told the court during Friday’s sentencing hearing.  

Gosar recalled how retired 3rd Circuit Court Judge Michael Greer assessed the crimes during a Feb. 20 preliminary hearing: The men’s conduct served “no other goal than the sheer joy of dominating and domineering a weak and vulnerable animal.” As the case progressed, Gosar said he’d “heard a lot of whitewashing and minimization” of the three men’s actions. 

When Range Martin changed his plea on June 22, he said he came across the moose as he was “moving cows and checking gates” and that it was interfering with his operation.

“I roped it … I tried to drag it out of the way,” he said, of pulling the feeble moose by its neck.

Platt, too, said his encounter occurred while he and Justin Martin were “out fixing fence, moving cows,” and that he “needed to move the moose” because she was in the way of relocating cattle, but he later admitted “we didn’t have the cows there yet.”

“I got on her, that’s when we took some videos, turned her loose. That was about it,” Platt said during his June 30 change of plea proceeding. He insisted the moose wasn’t as sickly as previously reported by Game and Fish investigators because “she was relatively healthy enough to run around,” he said, suggesting “she was far from dying — I didn’t burn her [or] start her on fire.”

Wyoming Game and Fish Department Game Warden Heather Sterling, who investigated the men, refuted their version of events at Friday’s sentencing. Sterling said that having “extensively reviewed the footage,” there were no fences located nearby and “there are no cattle visible for the duration of the video” as Range Martin and Platt initially stated. 

Sterling said that Justin Martin, who’d served as a Wyoming Livestock Board brand inspector for 16 years, “was supposed to be a respected member of the community … part of his job was to assist enforcement officers in livestock investigations, this includes animal welfare cases.

“He was trusted to guide others in the respectful treatment of animals,” Sterling said. “This treatment of that cow moose is unacceptable.”

State Livestock Director Steve True fired Justin Martin following his July 17 change of plea to guilty. “This is absolutely irresponsible behavior unbefitting a brand inspector,” Gov. Mark Gordon said in a statement afterwards. “I hold brand inspectors to a very high standard. Mr. Martin is no longer an employee of the state of Wyoming.”

The moose incidents were not the initial reason Justin Martin was on wildlife investigators’ radar. “This was a series of knowing, deliberate acts against a valued wildlife species,” Sterling said.

Prior to changing his plea, Justin Martin’s attorney filed a motion to suppress the video evidence for what was then his upcoming trial. During that proceeding, Sterling testified that the moose footage was discovered during a separate July 2022 investigation regarding Justin Martin allegedly granting an outfitter permission to hunt on a neighbor’s land in January of that year. Martin’s neighbor, however,  repeatedly and adamantly refused to allow hunting access.

In an effort to convince the landowner to drop trespassing charges against the outfitter, Justin Martin attempted to mediate a $1,000 payment between the parties. 

According to Sterling’s testimony, the outfitter shot an elk on the property which bordered Utah. The mortally wounded elk subsequently traveled into Utah, and the outfitter abandoned it there, where it suffered for up to two days until a conservation officer from the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources responded to euthanize it. That case was dismissed with prejudice last year, Sterling confirmed to WyoFile.  

Defense attorney Joe Hampton argued Justin Martin’s constitutional rights were violated when authorities discovered the moose footage after seizing his phone for that investigation. Game and Fish Wildlife Investigator Daniel Beach testified he’d inadvertently discovered the videos — which were created outside the date parameters detailed in the initial search warrant — while searching through Justin Martin’s phone for evidence related to the hunting incident. 

Gosar, however, successfully argued the plain view doctrine, which allows officers to seize visible evidence. Kaste agreed, saying “I can tell from the thumbnail there’s a guy riding a moose.” 

Justin Martin’s guilty plea was entered conditionally as he is awaiting the Wyoming Supreme Court’s ruling on Kaste’s decision to allow the video evidence. If he prevails at the high court, his conviction could be overturned.

Until then, Justin Martin will remain a convicted felon, meaning he will be unable to possess firearms. None of the defendants will be allowed to hunt, trap or fish, including shed hunting, during their three-year probation term.

“You shouldn’t have the privilege of taking wildlife here in Wyoming if you mistreat it,” Kaste said. 

“I’m the adult,” Justin Martin said in court Friday. “I apologize for wasting time and money. I tried my best to offer the best restitution. My apologies for any of this happening.” Prior to the sentencing, he had made two $3,750 donations to the Wyoming Game and Fish Department’s Wildlife Damages and Wildlife Crossing entities. 

Platt, who was 17 at the time of the crime, declined to speak during sentencing. Range Martin, who was 18 in May 2021, told the court, “I’m just sorry that I did what I did. I don’t like being in trouble and I’ll never do it again.” 

Platt’s attorney, J. Craig Abraham, informed the judge that his client has received death threats throughout the case, which Kaste publicly condemned. Range Martin later told WyoFile that he, too, had received similar threats. 

“You don’t take advantage of a creature who is more vulnerable than you,” the judge said, making clear it’s the responsibility of men to protect defenseless creatures. “The moose was not yours to do with what you will — it’s not your plaything.”

Admonishing Justin Martin in particular, Kaste told the court:  “Our wildlife matters — we will protect it — that is the message you should have sent those boys that day.”