Prosecutors have dropped a five-year felony charge against a man known to pronounce threats and curses over Cheyenne businesses.
The Laramie County District Attorney’s Office on Aug. 13 charged Joshua Hayden-Ali, 43, aka “Wisdom” or “Voodoo Man,” with intimidating election officials, a felony punishable by up to five years in prison and $10,000 in fines.
Hayden-Ali also faced two misdemeanors of criminal trespass and breach of peace, stemming from what Laramie County Sheriff’s Office investigators described as the disturbance of an election center open for early voting.
Hayden-Ali charged into the election area at the Laramie County Courthouse, clicking his wooden staff on the floor with each step, says an evidentiary affidavit filed in the case. He’d been trespassed, or banned, from the building six weeks prior, says the document.
The affidavit says he went to where people were voting, tore up printed election materials and threw them on the floor.
Later, Hayden-Ali confronted court security deputies, started throwing items to the ground and called a female deputy foul names, the document adds.
Criminal Entry
Released on bond early in his case, Hayden-Ali faced a felony prosecution for months and was scheduled for a Dec. 30 trial in Laramie County District Court.
On Friday, Laramie County Assistant District Attorney Steven McManamen asked the judge to dismiss the felony-level case so that McManamen could re-file it in Cheyenne Circuit Court without the felony charge.
Laramie County District Court Judge Peter Froelicher granted that request Monday.
One element of the felony charge was that to prove it, a prosecutor would have to show that Hayden-Ali was trying to interfere with the election process. Laramie County DA Sylvia Hackl declined to comment Tuesday, noting that the lead attorney on that case was not available to confer about it.
McManamen filed a single-count misdemeanor of criminal entry against Hayden-Ali in Cheyenne Circuit Court on Monday. The charge is punishable by up to six months in jail and $750 in fines.
Hayden-Ali is scheduled for a Jan. 7 initial appearance on that charge.
Towering
Hayden-Ali grabbed headlines this summer as Cheyenne business owners became fed up with what they described as threatening and terrorizing behavior from the man.
He stands 6-foot-4 and goes by the nickname “Wisdom.”
A handful of Wyoming shop owners told Cowboy State Daily that Hayden-Ali marches into businesses and threatens to kill people or burn their shops down.
Some said they’re worried for the man’s mental health and described him as a “time bomb.”
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
