The South Dakota husband and wife who shot at and bear-sprayed a Colorado woman who walked through their campsite in the Bridger-Teton National Forest in June are asking a judge to dismiss their case, claiming they acted in self-defense.
Conversely, woman whom the pair admittedly attacked told police that she was only out looking for a custom-made cowboy hat that blew off her head during a horseback ride earlier that day.
Teton County District Court Judge Melissa Owens has scheduled an Aug. 20 hearing, to decide whether Ben and Shannon Dewitt acted in self-defense when Ben shot at the Colorado woman and Dewitt bear-sprayed her after they witnessed the woman traipsing through their campsite.
Through their respective attorneys, both Ben and Shannon Dewitt filed motions to dismiss their aggravated assault cases last month.
The filings say the Dewitts were attacked in a place they were occupying lawfully and from which they had no duty to retreat, and that they both used reasonable defensive force to protect themselves.
“The alleged victim was in her vehicle and drove her vehicle at (Shannon) in an aggressive manner, causing (Shannon) to fear for her safety,” says Shannon Dewitt’s motion. “In an effort to defend herself, defendant disbursed her bear spray at the vehicle and alleged victim to prevent further attack.”
Ben Dewitt’s motion carries similar language, saying he shot his gun five times into the ground to get the Colorado woman’s attention while the woman drove aggressively toward his wife.
He had a “reasonable fear” of death or serious injury because the woman had entered his campsite — a temporary home, says the filing.
“The force (Ben) used was reasonable under the circumstances to protect himself and his wife,” the motion adds.
Escape Attempt, Rather
Counter-motions filed this month by Teton County Deputy Attorney Trevor Willoughby give a nearly opposite account, saying the woman went back to the Dewitts’ campsite area to look for her custom-made cowboy hat after it blew off her head during an earlier guided horseback ride.
She parked her car in the same campsite where the Dewitts’ camper was parked, then walked past the camper to a nearby creek to look for her hat. Her daughters searched for the hat with her, while her husband searched along the creek on foot, says one of the prosecutor’s filings.
The Dewitts were not at their camper, but surveillance cameras on their camper notified them of the intrusion that afternoon while they were driving to Jackson. The pair decided to turn around and return to their campsite to investigate, the filing says.
The surveillance cameras caught about 10 videos of the Colorado woman walking through their campsite.
When the Dewitts arrived, they found the Colorado woman leaving other nearby campsites using the access road, the filing says.
Ben Dewitt blockaded the access road with his truck, trapping the Colorado woman and her two daughters. He exited his truck and approached the woman’s car in what she described to police as a “menacing” manner, says the filing.
The woman explained she was looking for her hat.
“Bullshit, we have you on video,” Ben allegedly said, while hitting her vehicle, according to the filing.
Afraid for her safety, the Colorado woman drove off-road through the sagebrush and around the back of the truck, the prosecutor’s filing says.
Ben Dewitt shot his gun into the ground five times, while Shannon Dewitt got out of the truck and blasted the Colorado woman with bear spray through the open window of her vehicle, the document says.
The Colorado woman fled the scene and called law enforcement.
Investigators arrived to reportedly find her washing her face with saline.
A Little Legal Analysis
Wyoming courts have a process by which some defendants can get a judge to dismiss their criminal cases before they reach a jury on self-defense grounds.
The defendant has to prove at a hearing, on an at-first-glance evidentiary standard, that his actions were justified under Wyoming’s self-defense laws.
The prosecutor then gets the chance to rebut. He must prove via a higher evidentiary standard — preponderance of the evidence — that the defendant’s actions were not self-defense.
If the defendant makes his case but the prosecutor does not make his, then the judge will dismiss the case. Otherwise, the case advances.
Standing Your Ground
Ben Dewitt claims he was lawfully present where the altercation happened, and he didn’t have a duty to retreat. His filing also says he was defending his campsite, a temporary home.
Willoughby disagreed with that, writing in his counter motion that Dewitt was not at his campsite during the Colorado woman’s intrusion, and he was not “lawfully” occupying the access road when he shot toward the Colorado woman’s car, because he was blocking her against her will. The charge of false imprisonment is one of the charges against Dewitt in his case.
Shannon Dewitt’s motion says the Colorado woman was “improperly” at Shannon’s campsite, and aggressively charged Shannon with her car.
Willoughby confronted what his filing characterizes as murky language in Shannon’s motion, saying it’s not clear whether Shannon is trying to assert that she was defending her campsite or just herself.
The prosecutor’s filing also calls the Dewitts the initial aggressors. If he can prove that claim to the court, then the Dewitts can’t claim self-defense.
Shannon Dewitt is represented by Jackson-based public defender Elisabeth Trefonas, and Ben Dewitt is represented by Claire Fuller and Katherine Mannen, also of Jackson.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
