Daily Darwin

[{"type":"text","text":"The Darwin family celebrates Independence Day."}]

Darwin 6 30 23

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Daily Darwin: Friday, June 30, 2023 | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The Darwin family celebrates Independence Day.

Daily Darwin: Friday, June 30, 2023

 The Darwin family celebrates Independence Day.

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

Crime & Courts

Courts

A Riverton woman whose hands were bleeding sat trapped behind the wheel of a car outside a Catholic church Saturday morning while a stranger wearing only a white bathrobe lay across her body, according to a charging affidavit filed in Fremont County Circuit Court by Riverton Police Sgt. Charles Marshall.

The bizarre scene unfolded in broad daylight outside St. Margaret's Catholic Church and the parish school where a passerby spotted what she believed was a woman in trouble and flagged down police.

By Monday afternoon, Christopher Adkins was sitting in court facing three felony charges — kidnapping, robbery and aggravated burglary.

If convicted on the most serious charge, Adkins could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Court records show Adkins made his initial appearance Monday and is being held on a $10,000 cash-only bond. He has not entered a plea. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for June 16.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'The Lady In The Car Needed Help'"}]

Officers were dispatched shortly after 10 a.m. Saturday to St. Margaret's Catholic Church on East Fremont Avenue for a report of a possible domestic dispute, wrote Marshall. 

When they arrived, a woman pointed toward a white passenger vehicle parked beside the church and school and immediately told the officer the woman inside needed help.

[{"type":"text","text":"Marshall sprinted toward the vehicle."}]

The officer wrote that he found the driver's-side door open and observed a man later identified as Adkins "clad in a white bath robe, laying across a female that was seated in the front driver seat of the car."

The man was talking to the woman, though Marshall wrote he could not understand what was being said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Marshall grabbed Adkins and pulled him from the vehicle."}]

The officer said he immediately took him to the ground and placed him in handcuffs.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"'He Was Going To Kill Me'"}]

The woman told investigators she was at the church to place flowers inside.

While she was entering the combination code to the door, she was approached by an unknown male, later identified as Adkins, telling her he needed inside. 

She said Adkins was "talking non-stop," according to court records, "and she got concerned and did not feel comfortable letting him inside the church." 

[{"type":"text","text":"Then the woman went back to her car and got inside. "}]

"As she went to put the key in the ignition and shut her door," says the affidavit, Adkins got into the car and immediately "grabbed for her keys." 

She told investigators she was assaulted by Adkins for about 15 minutes before police showed up. She sustained a 1-inch gash to her index finger during the scuffle that ultimately required stitches.

At one point, according to the affidavit, she told investigators, "I thought he was going to kill me." 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"bold"}],"text":"Charges Carry Decades Behind Bars"}]

"Based on the investigation," wrote Marshall, "Adkins entered a vehicle without authorization and physically assaulted the vehicle owner by cutting her right index finger while attempting to get the keys away from her."

He continued, "Adkins unlawfully confined the vehicle owner from being able to leave, inflicting bodily injury and terrorizing the victim in the process." 

Adkins was booked into the Fremont County Detention Center on Sunday; the affidavit made publicly available in the court system on June 8. 

The felony offense of kidnapping is a serious crime with the possible sentence of 20 years to life in prison. 

Both the robbery and aggravated burglary charges carry a potential sentence up to 10 years in prison for each count. 

St Margarets Church 6 9 26

<title>Man In Bathrobe Accused Of Trying To Kidnap Woman From Riverton Church Parking Lot | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Riverton man in a bathrobe could spend life in prison after police say they found him lying on top of a bleeding woman in a church parking lot in an alleged attempted kidnapping. "I thought he was going to kill me,” the woman told police.

Man In Bathrobe Accused Of Trying To Kidnap Woman From Riverton Church Parking Lot

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's business and tourism reporter, Renée Jean

Renée Jean

Business

It was yet another data-center dominated night for the Cheyenne City Council at its regular session Monday night, with intense, sometimes emotional public testimony on a proposed, roughly 3,460-acre annexation south of the Sweetgrass subdivision and east of South Greeley Highway. 

City staff and Microsoft representatives who were present confirmed the annexation is being advanced to support future expansion of data centers.

No annexation vote was taken. The routine item, which was initially part of a consent agenda, was a referral to the Public Service Committee.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Out-Of-Date Plan"}]

Ward 1 Councilman Larry Wolfe requested the council take the proposed annexation off the consent agenda so it could be discussed separately. 

The area, Wolfe contended, should not be treated the same as a 2-acre parcel of land. He questioned annexing so much territory into the city at once when there are no specific plans yet attached to it, even as the city is getting ready to update its long-range planning, which Wolfe suggested is 12 years out of date.

“As you look at this giant annexation, and as you look at all of the hullabaloo about it that we have faced as a city council, and your office has faced, did it occur to you all to think maybe this annexation could proceed in a couple of steps?” Wolfe asked Cheyenne Planning and Development Department Director Charles Bloom. “Maybe it might even be better off to just be considered in the future, two, three years from now, when you, in fact, have updated Plan Cheyenne?”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Not Staff’s Job"}]

Mayor Patrick Collins interceded, saying it’s not appropriate for staff to dictate the timing of an annexation. 

“The state law says that if they bring a petition to us, we must look at that petition,” Collins said. “And if it meets the criteria, shall by ordinance annex that property. And so I don’t know that it’s staff’s position to censor applications. That’s our job.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"On that point, Wolfe agreed."}]

“It’s your job to take a look at something of this magnitude and make a judgment about whether or not it ought to proceed through our regular processes,” Wolfe said. “Or, in fact, we might think hard about an annexation of this size for a topic of this controversy, and treat it in some different kind of manner. That’s my point.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Collins, on that point, demurred. "}]

“I think if you were to poll your colleagues here and say that I have the authority to decide what comes before this governing body, I think you’d lose probably eight to one in that vote,” he said. “I think the job is we’re separate but equal, and when those applications come, we’re part of — all of us together, are the legislative body, the governing body. It should be done as a joint decision.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Just Map Color Is Changing"}]

Collins also said he felt the discussion itself is conflating annexation with the development action, which are two separate items.

“Annexation doesn’t do anything but change the color of the map,” Collins said. “What you’re concerned about is what happens once it’s annexed, and that is another process the governing body goes through. That is when we do the zoning for it, when we do the final plat for it, when we do those types of actions. If we were to just annex this property and it sits there for a decade or so, it doesn’t really change anything does it?”

“In 10 years, a couple of things may change,” Wolfe replied. “And I take some guidance from what our good governor just said to us last week in his executive order on data centers. You know, he says local authority and community investment, we’re keeping power close to —”

“Point of order,” another council member interjected. “Are we on annexation? Or are we on data centers?”

“Madam Councilwoman,” Wolfe replied. “You cannot possibly separate them today.”

And so the conversation would roll throughout the public debate, with citizens and officials wrestling over points and points of order all along the way.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Sounds Like “Extortion”"}]

Wolfe said he wants to see developers like Microsoft invest in local housing, charity and infrastructure, and believes annexation is the beginning of the right time to start talking about that.

“We shouldn’t kid ourselves that we are in fact looking at just the annexation,” he said. “This is the time for this council, for this government, for Mr. Bloom to actually take ahold of these issues and make them reality.”

A community benefit requirement, Collins replied, is “too much like extortion.”

“I just don’t agree,” he added. “At this point in time, what we’re doing is annexing a piece of property. If, in fact, the companies want to do some things like we have later on in our agenda, I think that’s well-welcomed, but to condition annexation on that, I think is a slippery slope, sir.”

“Mr. Mayor, it’s not a slippery slope, it’s in fact the slope that we are on right now,” Wolfe replied. “It’s not extortion. I’m talking about something that I’m going to call a mutually beneficial partnership agreement with Microsoft.”

“You can be annexed if you give us what, a rec center or something like that?” Collins said.

“No, no, my proposal is going to be 3% of the total cost of the project,” Wolfe replied.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"“So two rec centers,” Collins said."}]

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Questions About Scale, Benefits"}]

Members of the public also came to the podium, both for and against, to discuss their own points and their own frustrations with city processes. 

Harmony Meadows resident Heather Madrid questioned the council’s use of an outdated land-use map.

“How is this protecting the health, safety, and welfare of people?” she asked. “If people don’t live there yet, it’s not really protecting anybody. In fact, I would argue that it’s harmful to that area.”

Such a large annexation, meanwhile, is going to affect the entire city, Madrid said, not just people who may live within 300 feet of the facility. 

“If there’s no plan of what’s going to happen over the next 10 years, how is it even possible that the criteria in Wyoming statute … has been met?” she asked. “At the Planning Commission, Microsoft was asked how many buildings and they didn’t know. 

“So how is it even possible to say that that statute has been met if there is no plan?”

The city should update everything before proceeding, Madrid added, and consider “not only what benefits global corporate billionaires who are trying to land grab in rural America.”

Speaking for the annexation was Brian Napier, a Cheyenne resident who has worked for Microsoft since 2016.

“I’ve been with Microsoft for 10 years and everything I’ve ever seen with the company has been positive, working with the community and trying to be a good neighbor,” he said. “If I didn’t believe that, I wouldn’t be standing in front of you here, on their behalf, today.”

Napier said the company has hired 100 people in the past three years, jobs that he characterized as “good” with “great benefits.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Largest Annexation In City History"}]

The annexation which drew so many comments is the largest Cheyenne has ever seen at 3,459 acres land, 46% of which is contiguous to city limits. 

The only annexation to rival it in size, according to city officials during the meeting, was the Sweetgrass annexation. Records show that was a 2,269-acre project, brought into the city in 2018 near the intersection of East College Drive and Avenue C, south of Laramie County Community College.

It took another 1,000 acres to get to the project to annex it, Cheyenne planner Connor White said during the council meeting, making the two comparable in size.

The plan for that was a buildout over 50 years, White added.

“The main reason they did it all at once is because they wanted a unified development program for the Sweetgrass development,” he said. “The PUD (Planned Unit Development) has changed a few times. You’ve changed it probably within the last few months. So it changes, yes.”

At the time, it represented a major growth spurt for Cheyenne at one-sixth the city’s size, one that was going to require more staff members for various city departments to take care of the land. 

“That was … a higher impact on city services, fully built out,” he said. “But we had a greater standard of review on that larger annexation than we did with say someone annexing single-family homes to connect to sewer. So I just wanted to shed light on what’s happened in the past.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Microsoft’s Turn"}]

Microsoft officials said it has identified the annexation area as a logical future expansion for the Bison Business Park, and decided it’s best to pursue that with Cheyenne.

For long-range planning, it’s important the company knows the zoning for the area.

After that, it can begin transportation, cultural, environmental, noise, and other studies.

An open house was held for the project with neighboring landowners, which was attended by three people. 

A more general community forum was also held during that general timeframe, which drew around 150 people to learn more about Microsoft’s plans in Cheyenne.

Rachel Irwing, land development and permitting manager for Microsoft, said the size of the Highlands project represents a long-term commitment from the company to plan and grow responsibly in Cheyenne. 

“Large contiguous parcels with the infrastructure characteristics needed for future development are increasingly rare,” she said. “Planning comprehensively now allows us to have growth occur thoughtfully and with the city’s input and with the public’s input over time, rather than incrementally and reactively, parcel by parcel.”

That doesn’t mean that all of the 3,050 acres Microsoft will own is being developed all at once. 

“Complete and full build-out of the site would likely be a 10- to 20-year phased development,” she said. “The larger planning area provides flexibility to responsibly coordinate infrastructure, transportation, utilities, buffering, environmental concessions, and future community needs over many years, and in alignment with market demand and infrastructure readiness.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Long-Term Commitment To Cheyenne"}]

These efforts further reflect a long-term commitment by Microsoft to Cheyenne, Microsoft Community Affairs Senior Manager Lucas Downey said.

“Microsoft is not new to Cheyenne,” he said. “We’ve called Cheyenne home since 2012 and from the start we’ve tried to be good neighbors, not just a company with a footprint here, but a partner in the community’s future.”

Downey said more community forums are planned in the future, so collect feedback from the public about what matters to them, and to ensure that those concerns are appropriately addressed.

“We want to keep listening, keep showing up, and keep addressing your feedback directly,” he said. “We’ve also tried to back up our words with investment. Since 2018, Microsoft has supported 56 community projects across 28 local organizations, and we’ve donated $4.7 million to local nonprofits and organizations across Wyoming.”

Those groups range from Boys and Girls Club Cheyenne and Laramie County Community College to Habitat for Humanity, Climb Wyoming, Cheyenne Frontier Days and many more.

Microsoft is committed to paying the full cost of its electricity bill so that residential rates are not affected and to minimizing water use and being good stewards of the water shed. 

The company’s commitment to Cheyenne also includes creating jobs, investing in local training and nonprofits, and contributing to local taxes that support public services.

“In 2025, Microsoft was the No. 1 taxpayer in the city of Cheyenne,” Downey said. “We know trust is earned, not announced. 

"We’re committed to earning it this summer and for years to come,” he added. "We’re not just proud of the 14 years we’ve been a part of the community, we’re genuinely excited for the decades that are still to come. Cheyenne isn’t just where we operate, it’s where we intend to keep growing, contributing, and building in partnership with the community.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Not Just Changing Map Colors"}]

“We don’t make decisions like this, haven’t before, and certainly not in such a politically charged atmosphere, with so many nearby aspects,” Councilman Pete Laybourn said toward the end of the discussion. “And I don’t think we can look at this in that narrow view that’s been suggesting tonight that we’re changing the color on the map, Mr. Mayor. 

We’re not changing the color on the map,” he continued. “We are adopting the rules and regulations of the city. That’s a really serious thing.”

The needs of South Cheyenne, which is immediately adjacent to the proposed land that’s being annexed, need to be fully considered in context with the annexation, Laybourn suggested. 

“I believe there’s contributions that should be considered to help that neighborhood,” he said. As well as other issues here in the city.”

Given the public interest and concerns surrounding data centers right now — and Microsoft’s expansion plans in particular — Laybourn suggested it’s actually a huge problem that the most recent minutes from the Planning Commission, which dealt with recommendations related to the annexation, are unavailable to the council, even in draft form.

“When we don’t have the minutes, we don’t have a real chance to discuss the action they took,” he said. “And they took several votes. I personally don’t want to call on my recollection.

"I think we need to go to the record. I think that’s a very important part of this. And certainly 

those minutes can be dispersed as draft minutes,” Laybourn added. "We (shouldn’t) have to wait a month for them to be approved by the next meeting of the commission. There’s got to be some middle ground on this.”

Larry wolfe city council 6 9 26

<title>In Emotional City Council Meeting, Cheyenne Weighs Record Microsoft Annexation | Cowboy State Daily</title>

It was yet another data-center dominated night for the Cheyenne City Council on Monday, with intense, sometimes emotional public testimony on what would be the largest annexation in Cheyenne history. The annexation will support expansion of data centers.

In Emotional City Council Meeting, Cheyenne Weighs Record Microsoft Annexation

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

 after a tense standoff sued the City of Casper and several police officers Friday, saying officers wrongfully killed her son and the city failed to train officers to avoid rights violations. 

Brenda Cothron filed a civil complaint in the federal U.S. District Court for Wyoming through her attorney, Christopher King of Worland. 

It hinges on the June 6, 2024, death of Cothron’s son Trae Spurlock, at an apartment complex in the 5,000 block of PayIt Forward Drive in Casper. 

Spurlock had had a tense encounter with police, whom he claimed to be in his home unlawfully, while police tried to investigate a report that Spurlock had shoved his girlfriend and thrown some keys at her earlier. 

It ended with an escalation, in which Spurlock, sitting near a rifle, said he wasn’t afraid of “death by cop.” He made a quick movement; an officer tased him, and he fell. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Here the facts become uncertain. "}]

The officer who had tased Spurlock switched to his handgun and shot at Spurlock seven times, striking him six times. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Police rendered aid, but Spurlock died. "}]

The prosecutor who investigated the case, Natrona County District Attorney Daniel Itzen, wrote in his October 2024 decision letter that 

 doesn’t reveal whether Spurlock had been reaching for his own rifle at that time. 

The shooting officer told another officer on scene that Spurlock had been reaching for the rifle. 

if he had decided to prosecute the officer who shot Spurlock that night, the evidence would not have carried his case.  

Cothron’s lawsuit accuses the involved officers of violating Spurlock’s constitutional rights. 

It asserts that the officers were not provoked, and that the officer who fired on Spurlock while the latter was on the ground lacked a “lawful or justifiable reason.” 

The complaint alleges that the officers “knowingly” violated the law “when they caused Trae Spurlock’s unwarranted and excruciating physical and mental anguish and death.” 

Its second cause of action accuses the city of failing to train its officers, and having customs or policies that led to officers allegedly violating Spurlock’s rights. 

The complaint also claims the officers caused a wrongful death, that the civil defendants owe Spurlock’s mother and estate damages for causing harm, as well as costs and attorney fees. 

Cothron’s lawsuit complaint notes that officers entered Spurlock’s home without a warrant. 

“They could have left the apartment,” wrote King. “If they were determined to arrest Trae Spurlock they could have obtained a warrant, they could have simply waited until the following day and served Trae Spurlock with a citation. There was no-one in danger. There was no reason for the Officers to continue to escalate the situation.” 

A rifle had been sitting on the balcony along with Spurlock when police met him, the complaint concedes. But it alleges that Spurlock did not control the rifle during the incident. 

[{"type":"text","text":"A Little More Background"}]

Multiple Casper Police Department officers responded to the apartment about 9:30 p.m. that evening and spoke with two women – one of them Spurlock’s girlfriend – who said Spurlock shoved her and threw keys at her, according to official reports on the incident. 

Officers knocked at the apartment door, and Spurlock didn’t answer. 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"The girlfriend offered them the keys. "}]

Officers pointed their flashlights at the living room and balcony, and spotted Spurlock, shirtless and sitting in a camp chair, on the balcony, with an AR-style rifle at his feet.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Someone flicked on a light."}]

Spurlock opened the sliding glass door and said “get out of my house.”

Officers said they were there to ensure the girlfriend was safe as she gathered her things.

Spurlock said they were trespassing and he could shoot them. There was a back-and-forth as to whether he could do that, Itzen’s decision letter notes.

“I don’t care,” said Spurlock, according to the letter. “Death by cop doesn’t sound too bad. What do you want?”

One officer started talking about whether Spurlock had shoved his girlfriend, and Spurlock said he had, says the letter. 

The shooting officer also tried to get Spurlock to come in from the balcony, away from the gun, but Spurlock refused, and noted he was feet away from the rifle, the letter says.

Itzen wrote that the girlfriend had told officers prior she knew of him having three guns: two rifles and a pistol usually kept in the truck.

Spurlock reached behind a wall, picked up a mason jar and drank out of it. Authorities later found his blood-alcohol level to be 0.267%, says the letter.

Officers kept trying to coax Spurlock away from the rifle.

He stepped into the apartment by a couple feet, and shut the door about halfway, leaving enough room for a person to get out.

“I’m not going to jail tonight. That’s why that f***ing rifle is there. I’m not going to f***ing jail tonight,” he said. “Either death by cop or not, I’ve been in plenty of firefights in my life. I’m not afraid of another one.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"He added, “Take that as you will.”"}]

Spurlock told the officers he was highly proficient with a rifle, and if he wanted, the officers would already be dead, the letter and incident video note. The officers spoke with him for about 13 minutes,

Ultimately, the officer moved in to arrest Spurlock for domestic assault. Spurlock shook his head and refused to be handcuffed.

The officer already had his taser drawn then, the letter says.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"To The Door"}]

Spurlock opened the sliding glass door and made a quick movement to the balcony.

The officer discharged his taser for a little more than three seconds.

Itzen wasn’t sure, in his letter, if Spurlock fell down then because of the taser or because he tripped.

At some point the officer dropped the taser and switched to his handgun.

He shot seven times, striking Spurlock six of those times, says the letter.

Police started life-saving measures, but Spurlock died.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"‘Not Going To Jail’ "}]

Itzen said this evidence wasn’t enough to carry a case against the shooting officer through the justice system. 

“As you are aware, the State of Wyoming must prove each element of a crime beyond a reasonable doubt,” wrote Itzen in his letter, which was addressed to a Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agent. “By Spurlock’s own words, he admitted the rifle was out because he – Spurlock – was not going to jail. What that ultimately means is unknown, be it suicide or a shoot-out with law enforcement.”

Police were at the apartment due to Spurlock’s own “criminal activity” and were there at the invitation of the leaseholder and for a civil standby, says the letter.

Officers tried to deescalate the situation.

“Once it was clear to Spurlock he was going to jail, he made a quick movement to the area where the rifle was located,” wrote Itzen. “The State would fail in meeting its burden of proof in this case.”

For those reasons, “the State declines (to charge) this case,” wrote Itzen. “Should new facts or circumstances come to light, this decision can be revisited.”

The Casper City Attorney’s Office did not comment by publication. 

Casper officer shooting uncooperative 6 17 24

<title>Mother Of Man Who Suggested "Death By Cop" Sues Casper | Cowboy State Daily</title>

The mother of a man who was fatally shot by police after a tense standoff sued the City of Casper and police officers, saying officers wrongfully killed her son and the city failed to train officers to avoid rights violations. 

Mother Of Man Who Suggested "Death By Cop" Sues Casper

A Missouri truck driver is facing criminal charges after an alleged 

 involving a commercial vehicle and failing to demonstrate the English proficiency required of interstate truck drivers. 

What might have been an obscure traffic citation a year ago has become part of a national debate. 

Wyoming lawmakers, the Wyoming Highway Patrol and U.S. Rep. Harriet Hageman, R-Wyoming, have all spent 

 pushing for stricter enforcement of English-language requirements for commercial truck drivers operating on Wyoming highways. 

Anvarjon Ganiyevich Muminov, whose listed address is in Columbia, Missouri, was charged Monday afternoon in Sweetwater County Circuit Court with leaving the scene of an accident involving damage to an attended vehicle, commercial vehicle operator non-English proficiency, careless driving and failure to maintain a single lane.

A settlement conference is scheduled for July 14. A jury trial is set for Oct. 15.

[{"type":"text","text":"'Luckily No One Was Struck' "}]

The case began around 5:12 p.m. June 5 when Sweetwater County Sheriff's Deputy Otte was dispatched to Interstate 80 near mile marker 128 eastbound for a reported hit-and-run, says an affidavit filed by Sweetwater County Deputy and Prosecuting Attorney Alex Breckenridge. 

When Otte arrived, he reportedly found a tan Toyota Avalon with Wyoming plates sitting on the shoulder with extensive damage.

A Russian-speaking truck driver faces criminal charges after allegedly hitting a disabled car on I-80 and then leaving the scene. Court documents say he failed an English proficiency test and simply nodded when shown the damaged vehicle.

Daily Darwin: Friday, June 30, 2023

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