The Hot Springs County Attorney has appointed a special prosecutor to review a recent officer-involved shooting in her place, the appointee confirmed Tuesday to Cowboy State Daily.
A Hot Springs County Sheriff’s deputy and a Thermopolis Police Department officer were both involved in a shooting incident that led to the death of local man Jared Gottula, 41, the evening of Sept. 9.
After officer-involved shootings in Wyoming generally, the Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation (DCI) studies all the case evidence, then sends a report to the prosecutor overseeing the case.
The elected prosecutor for the county in which the shooting happened can then review that report herself, or if she feels she may have a conflict, can appoint an outside prosecutor to determine whether the shooting was criminal or justified.
Hot Springs County Attorney Jill Logan has appointed Fremont County Attorney Patrick LeBrun, the latter confirmed to Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday.
“I have been appointed by the Hot Springs County Attorney to review the officer-involved shooting of Sept. 9,” said LeBrun.
As for the investigative report from DCI, LeBrun said, “I have most of it.”
LeBrun is an experienced hand at reviewing officer-involved shootings. This will be his fifth.
The prior four all were justified or not chargeable, and include:
• A Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms agent’s January 2019 shooting of a man in Riverton in an exchange of gunfire.
• A Riverton Police Department officer’s shooting of a transient after the transient stabbed him in the chest in September 2019.
• A Riverton Police Department officer’s April 2020 shooting of a Riverton resident who shot at police with an AR-15 from within his home.
• A Wyoming Highway Patrol trooper’s shooting of a 24-year-old man in an exchange of gunfire in 2021.
One unique feature of LeBrun’s appointment compared with other prosecutors throughout Wyoming is that historically, LeBrun does not identify by name officers found to be justified in shootings.
Crickets From Hot Springs
LeBrun’s confirmation comes after weeks of silence from Logan.
The Hot Springs County attorney did not respond by publication time to a Sept. 27 email, a later voicemail, or a Tuesday email request for comment on whether she appointed a special prosecutor and who that may be.
The Hot Springs County Commission, which oversees Logan’s budget, signed a resolution Sept. 17, authorizing Logan to appoint her own special prosecutors at her discretion, without having to get a resolution from the Commission each time as is standard practice.
“Logan explained this resolution would authorize her to appoint a special prosecutor at her discretion, especially when a matter is confidential,” says the minutes sheet from the meeting.
Unlike certain types of sex cases, charging decisions in officer-involved shootings are not confidential under Wyoming law.
In an effort to find the special prosecutor, Cowboy State Daily started calling county and district attorney’s offices throughout the state, leading to LeBrun’s brief interview.
With A Baseball Bat
Due to a reported mental health incident in which he was striking his home and yelling, Gottula became the subject of a police welfare check late in the afternoon Sept. 9.
The Thermopolis Police Department officer arrived. Gottula confronted the officer and struck his patrol car with a metal baseball bat, according to a statement the town of Thermopolis and Hot Springs County Sheriff’s office dispatched the following day.
A witness on scene told Cowboy State Daily that the man with the bat, now known as Gottula, kept trying to get into the officer’s car and twice managed to get the door open. The officer hit the man with his car during the scuffle, the witness added.
The deputy arrived and a struggle followed.
One neighbor heard the grunting sounds of a possible wrestling match. At some point, “lethal force was deployed,” says the joint statement.
Both the officer and the deputy were not hurt, the statement continues, adding that they were placed on paid administrative leave during the investigation.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
