Wyoming this month paid to settle a lawsuit brought by a hemp farmer whose crop was seized by law enforcement agents based on erroneous allegations she grew and trafficked marijuana, court filings show.
The state paid farmer Debra Palm-Egle $150,000 to settle the case, she told WyoFile on Monday, out of which she had to pay fees to her civil attorney. A lawyer for the Wyoming Attorney General’s office confirmed the amount.
Minus attorney fees, the remaining settlement payment was not substantially more than the $54,000 she spent on criminal defense attorneys in 2019 and 2020, she said. Felony charges brought by the state at that time threatened to send the senior citizen to prison for decades.
“It needed to be done,” Palm-Egle said of her lawsuit, and she hopes the settlement will make investigators and prosecutors proceed with more caution on such clearly flawed cases in the future.
“Maybe it will help them stop and think,” she said.
Barring any new twists, the settlement ends a long-running court saga that began with a 2019 raid and property seizure and played out across state and federal courts. The Wyoming Supreme Court weighed in on two separate legal questions stemming from the case.
Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agents clad in tactical gear and brandishing assault rifles raided Palm-Egle’s family farm in Albin, near the Nebraska border, in November 2019. Investigators had received a tip from a neighboring farmer that Palm-Egle was growing marijuana, and DCI agents who visited the farm claimed to spot what they believed to be that illegal plant hanging in a barn.
During the raid, investigators confiscated 700 pounds of the plant — a big bust, had it in fact been marijuana. But over a five-month investigation, DCI’s testing of the crop ultimately revealed it had a THC level in line with hemp production. They charged Palm-Egle, her son and two employees of the farmers with conspiracy to manufacture, deliver or possess marijuana; possession with intent to deliver marijuana; possession of marijuana and planting or cultivating marijuana. All but the last are felonies.
But the crop could never have been effectively sold as a narcotic, the farmers argued in court, as its THC concentration was far too low to have any of the psychotropic effects of marijuana, which is in various respects legal in most states but not in Wyoming. Palm-Egle’s defense team also pointed out that she was a well known lobbyist for hemp farming in Wyoming, who had worked with lawmakers to legalize the crop and posed with Gov. Mark Gordon at a bill signing.
DCI agents never interviewed Palm-Egle or her son during the investigation. After the raid a judge barred Palm-Egle from leaving Laramie County, even though her principal residence is in Colorado. She wound up living on the farm for nine months. Palm-Egle, who has multiple sclerosis, said the judge’s order interfered with therapies that help her avoid vertigo and other side effects of the disease.
“It was very traumatizing,” she said, “plus the threat of going to prison for 30 years. You can’t feel comfortable. You can’t feel safe.”
But once the case reached a trial court, the prosecution didn’t get far. A Laramie County judge tossed the case following a preliminary hearing, finding the prosecution could never prove the farmers intended to grow marijuana, not hemp.
Legal fallout rippled out from there.
In 2021, the Wyoming Supreme Court went on to censure the prosecutor, David Singleton, then a Laramie County senior assistant district attorney, after the Wyoming State Bar investigated an allegation that DCI agent Jon Briggs had lied on the stand and Singleton had allowed him to do so. Singleton paid an $800 fine and admitted he had violated the Wyoming judiciary’s rules of professional conduct by failing to correct testimony from Briggs he knew was false.
The Wyoming Attorney General’s office sought to protect Briggs, asking the state Supreme Court to redact his name from their decision on Singleton. The justices rejected that request. Briggs was subsequently investigated by the Wyoming Peace Officer Standards and Training Commission, which cleared him of any wrongdoing. He remains an investigator with DCI, an agency spokesperson said late last year.
Singleton, the former prosecutor, is today a Cheyenne Municipal Court judge. The city council appointed him to the court the same year as the censure.
Palm-Egle filed her federal civil suit in May 2022. A federal judge found that the law was unclear on whether Wyoming residents could sue law enforcement for damages caused by negligent criminal investigations, and asked the Wyoming Supreme Court to weigh in. In a 3-2 March decision, the state’s high court ruled Palm-Egle’s case could advance, and the matter returned to federal court.
A DCI spokesperson on Monday told WyoFile the agency would not comment on the settlement in the case, which named Briggs as a defendant. Attorneys on the case for the Wyoming AG’s office did not respond to a request for comment by WyoFile’s deadline.
After paying her attorneys, Palm-Egle plans to spend the money she won remodeling her barn, she said — a project she had been saving money for and had to pause in order to pay for her legal defense.
“It’s going to look gorgeous,” she said.
“Thank God, it’s over,” she said of her legal battles. “This has been a long fight, and I’m grateful that I’m finished with this and I hope that no one else goes through this in the state.”
The settlement was finalized and the case concluded at the tail end of the Wyoming Legislature’s 2025 general session. Ahead of that session, the Joint Judiciary Committee — the group of lawmakers that focus on the state’s criminal justice and civil courts — had sponsored a bill that would have closed the door on future lawsuits like Palm-Egle’s, which accused DCI agents of conducting a “negligent” investigation.
After the Wyoming Supreme Court’s ruling on Palm-Egle’s case, the Judiciary Committee this fall drafted a bill that would have immunized investigators from such lawsuits going forward, though it would not have stopped Palm-Egle’s. But the composition of the judiciary committee changed in January, and the new committee declined to advance the bill. Several lawmakers told WyoFile they thought the legislation would have tipped the statute too sharply in favor of law enforcement.
It remains unclear whether lawmakers will bring a version of that legislation back.
Palm-Egle said her son, Josh Egle, has continued to grow hemp in Albin. He has been using the crop to produce herbal medicines to help people sleep, she said.
Thanks for writing this article.
Until bad actor cops are personally held liable for malfeasacens, this blue code dog and pony show will continue. The lowly Barney Fife types of the world are always looking for a way to lash out against the citizenry. Looks like both a judge and DCI investigator got caught red handed yet only received a slap on the wrist. Does anyone wonder why law enforcement is pretty much hated?
I can’t believe that we only settled, as a state, for that piddly amount after state officials, people sworn to uphold the truth, and the law, lied and continued to lie, even on the stand in court and after taking an oath to tell nothing but the truth, to convict a person on what?- growing a plant?… Is this Wyoming? Is this the Wyoming I grew up in or have the dark side finally won and are rewarding what used to be trusted officials for their very expensive and horrific mis-deeds??
I wonder if Palm-Egle can sue Briggs and Singleton personally, since they lied and colluded to try to win a bogus conviction of innocent people. Maybe the neighbor who also started this whole fiasco should be sued as well. Those three people were the reason the Egle family had to endure all this pain, anguish, and financial loss. $150,000 seems like a paltry amount for the victims of these overzealous law officers. Though they lied and colluded, those law officials get rewarded? WOW.
Un-freakin’-believable. They should all lose their jobs. At the very least. Kudos to Miss Palm-Egle for being so mild-mannered. I would be LIVID.
I can’t be the only one who is shocked by the lack of accountability for the law enforcement involved with this cluster. Briggs lies on the stand and is still on the job. Singleton backs the lie and moves up to judge. I assume there were no consequences for the neighbor who made the false accusation. And the Legislature’s Joint Judiciary Committee’s reaction is an attempt to ensure this kind of behavior won’t be punishable in the future. I guess the lone bright spot is the judge that immediately threw this garbage out of court.
The levels of corruption are disappointing, but the utter shamelessness is really appalling.
So the corrupt prosecutor is reward with a Municipal Court bench – feel sorry for anyone having to come in front of of corrupt personage.
So DCI agent Biggs committed perjury on the witness stand and was never arrested for a felony. I’m shaking my head in amazement.
Wyoming is going to face more and more lawsuits if they continue to be stubborn and mess with people’s Constitutional Rights. This session Daniel Singh and I put up a Hemp Regulation Bill and I also worked with Karlee Provenza on the Decrim. Wyoming had a choice they chose to double down. The Hemp Ban Appeal is still in motion. I hope we Win. It is digusting what Wyoming has chosen to do to these Federally Legal Products simply because they couldn’t tell the difference between THC products in Testing. They should have Regulated back when Jared Olsen offered the Marijuana Legislation. Wyoming chose this and I hope more people have what this woman has to hold them accountable. It is not easy holding this State accountable because they are bullies.
I hope we win the Hemp Ban Appeal. The legislature had a chance to fix this with the Hemp Regulation Bill Daniel Singh sponsored and the Decrim Karlee Provenza sponsored. Wyoming’s stubbornness to outlaw these Federally Legal products is going to continue to hurt the state as more lawsuits will come forth.
“But the crop could never have been effectively sold as a narcotic, the farmers argued in court, as its THC concentration was far too low to have any of the psychotropic effects of marijuana, which is in various respects legal in most states but not in Wyoming.”
I find this statement “funny” as Wyoming legalized consuming THC derived from this hemp with the passage of 2024 SF0032. Wyoming has become the only state not to pile on taxes for selling the same concentration of THC in gummies that are for sale in Colorado. While you cannot smoke enough of that hemp Wyoming grows to get high, it is now legal to distill the THC into edible products as long as the THC is less than 0.3% dry weight of material consumed.
The gummies in Colorado and Wyoming weigh 40 grams and if you do the math based on the limits of the law in SF0032, the amount THC in the 40 grams of gummies is a maximum of 120 milligrams of THC. The gummies legally for sale in Wyoming and Colorado contain a total of 100 milligrams THC with each gummy having 10 milligrams per serving.
40 grams X 1000 to get to 40,000 milligrams, then multiply this amount by .003 (0.3 %) and this equals 120 milligrams THC. In Wyoming THC may be legally manufactured and consumed as long as the THC originates from 0.3 % hemp and that the resulting products have less than 0.3% THC by dry weight.
THC gummies are as legal in Colorado as they are in Wyoming is one of the biggest stories not quite told by the media. I really want to know how they pushed SF0032 and why the Democrats voted against it?
July 1, 2024 was the day THC became legal to consume in Wyoming for all those who celebrate.
https://www.wyoleg.gov/Legislation/2024/SF0032
PS Wyoming should do some education on consuming THC edibles as a 10 MG serving is TOO MUCH for a first time user and kids should be prevented from getting this material.
Thank you for writing this article
Thankfully the court system worked protecting law abiding hard working people from the Barney Fifes of this world.
A good result mainly because it demonstrates that abuse of the law enforcement process, unfortunately takes place.
Their criminal defense attorney deserves a lot of the credit. I believe since retired, this Wyoming lawyer did an amazing job to protect these citizens. He is a graduate of the University of Wyoming College of Law.