The criminal case against the Weston County clerk accused of defying a legislative subpoena will proceed after a judge rejected Wednesday an attempt by her attorney to have the matter dismissed.
Defense attorney Ryan Semerad had argued the Wyoming Legislature’s Management Audit Committee acted outside the scope of state law when one of its subcommittees subpoenaed Becky Hadlock. The subcommittee was investigating her actions related to a miscount during the November 2024 general election.
Semerad maintains the subpoena was invalid, and he asked Natrona County Circuit Judge Kevin Taheri to toss a misdemeanor charge against Hadlock now rather than let the matter proceed to a jury trial.
Taheri was unconvinced. After a nearly hour-long hearing Wednesday morning in Casper, the judge concluded the committee possessed the authority to subpoena witnesses as part of its inquiry into Hadlock and the election errors.
“I don’t think it is the place of the court to second-guess the Legislature’s motives,” Taheri said.
Hadlock faces a single count of failing to appear for a subpoena, which carries a maximum penalty of six months in jail and a $100 fine. Her trial is set for next week, but Semerad told WyoFile after the hearing that he planned to seek a pause in the case while he asks the district court to consider an appeal of Taheri’s decision.
Prosecutors in Natrona County filed the charge against Hadlock after she failed to appear before the legislative subcommittee when it met Sept. 29 in Casper.
The Legislative Service Office — the staffers for state lawmakers — contacted Hadlock during the first half of that month regarding the hearing, and she responded that she could not attend due to a scheduling conflict, according to her attorney. She was subpoenaed anyway on Sept. 23, but did not attend the hearing or make a legal effort to quash the subpoena.
In the aftermath, lawmakers on the subcommittee said they would pursue criminal charges. Hadlock in November pleaded not guilty.
Legal authority?
Ahead of the trial, Semerad asked Taheri to decide the matter now in Hadlock’s favor by ending the prosecution, maintaining that only questions of law, rather than the facts themselves, are at issue.
During Wednesday’s court hearing, Semerad argued the legislative subpoena was invalid because the Management Audit Committee lacked the statutory authority to investigate Hadlock. State law, he said, limits the committee’s authority to conduct audits of state-level agencies via the Legislative Service Office.
More specifically, state law doesn’t allow the committee to investigate county-level officials or conduct inquiries into election misconduct, Semerad told the court. Possible violations of the state’s election code are the purview of the Wyoming Attorney General or local authorities, not the Management Audit Committee.
“It did not have this power,” Semerad said. “It should not have done this. And now, we are left to pick up the pieces.”
Natrona County Chief Deputy District Attorney Blaine Nelson asked Taheri to allow the case to proceed to trial. The committee, the prosecutor said, was not pursuing a criminal case when it subpoenaed Hadlock. Instead, it was investigating policy matters tied to elections, which is within its statutory purview.
Hadlock had proper notice that she needed to testify, even if only to tell the lawmakers that she needed legal counsel before proceeding, Nelson explained. Instead, she didn’t show.
“She failed to appear for the hearing,” he told the judge. “That is the case here.”
Hadlock attended Wednesday’s hearing, but did not speak. She listened to the proceedings from the defense table near the front of the courtroom and left soon afterward.
Removal proceedings
The embattled clerk faces more than a criminal charge. Earlier this month, Gov. Mark Gordon directed the Wyoming Attorney General to seek her removal from office, alleging she “committed several acts of misconduct and malfeasance.” Gordon cited her failure to appear for the legislative subpoena and her filing of a “false audit report” after the election.
On the night of the 2024 general election, initial results showed a dramatic undercount for Speaker of the House Chip Neiman, who was running unopposed. It appeared that most voters in that race had chosen not to cast their ballots for him, despite the lack of another candidate.
That undercount resulted from an initial miscount caused by Hadlock’s use of the wrong ballots. Secretary of State Chuck Gray intervened, and a hand count ultimately produced the correct results.
But some in Weston County and elsewhere were disturbed by Hadlock’s handling of not only the election itself, but also the post-election audit she later filed. Gordon noted in his decision to seek her removal that Hadlock “failed to discover twenty-one incorrect ballot entries,” which “could likely be construed as misconduct or malfeasance.”
Gordon lacks the authority to unilaterally remove Hadlock from office. Instead, Attorney General Keith Kautz will seek her removal through a court proceeding.
The governor had been asked before to seek Hadlock’s removal over the voting snafu. But in May, he concluded her “serious mistakes” did not rise to the level of misconduct or malfeasance. His position changed after new public complaints were submitted stemming from her failure to appear for the subpoena and filing of an inaccurate post-audit report.
The committee, meanwhile, produced its own report on the matter, recommending four draft bills, including one that would increase the monetary penalty for failing to obey a legislative subpoena from $100 to $750. Another would create penalties for submitting false post-audit results to the Wyoming Secretary of State, who oversees elections.