The Rawlins-based judge who concluded the state of Wyoming could take $54,226 from a retired Wamsutter trucker on claims the money was part of a drug conspiracy let the state have it too easy in court, the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.
Ronald Mickulin, 76, pleaded guilty last February in Rawlins Circuit Court to possessing a misdemeanor amount of cocaine. He was sentenced to 20 days in jail plus a year of probation and ordered to pay a $250 fine and other court costs and fees.
But in the course of a Rawlins traffic stop on Oct. 22, 2023, where his rear taillights weren’t operational, a subsequent warrant search and his arrest, police found $54,226 in Mickulin’s Honda Civic, according to court documents.
The state called the sum drug money and asked Carbon County District Judge Dawnessa Snyder to let the government seize it.
Mickulin protested, having told police that nearly half the money was from a 401k that he cashed out, and an insurance settlement.
A bench trial unfolded in Snyder’s court, after which she concluded that the state could seize the money since it had shown by a “preponderance of the evidence” that it was drug money and qualified for seizure under state law.
The Wyoming Supreme Court reversed Snyder’s decision Tuesday, saying she used the wrong standard of evidence.
The law calls for the state to rise to a tougher standard, of showing “clear and convincing evidence.”
And it’s uncertain if the state would have succeeded under that standard, at this juncture, the high court added.
“We cannot say with certainty that this same evidence establishes by clear and convincing evidence — that it is highly probable — that the currency was used or intended to be used to facilitate a violation of the Wyoming Controlled Substances Act,” says the Wyoming Supreme Court’s Tuesday order on Mickulin’s case.
Not all the audio evidence played at the bench trial surrounding the money’s fate made it into transcripts in the appeal record, the order notes, adding that this is a matter for Snyder to decide anew, under the clear and convincing standard.
The case will be sent back to the Carbon County District Court, which means the argument over the money is still alive.
“I’m happy with the Supreme Court’s decision that my client’s rights were violated,” Holcomb told Cowboy State Daily on Tuesday. “And (happy) that we’re not done – and we’re looking forward to the next steps and hopefully can get some justice for him.”
Maybe It’s A ‘Conspiracy’
On the other hand, the high court ruled, Snyder didn’t make a mistake by leaning on the state’s assertion that Mickulin was involved in a drug-dealing conspiracy.
The Wyoming Supreme Court indicated that it addressed this issue, despite the reversal and remand, because it’s likely to surface again.
Mickulin was only convicted of a misdemeanor in this case, regarding less than one-third of a gram of cocaine.
Conspiracy drug delivery is a felony.
Mickulin’s attorney Andrew Holcomb argued in a written filing that the state didn’t make a valid effort at showing the man was involved in a drug conspiracy.
“Not only has the State never filed such conspiracy charges and survived a probable cause hearing against (Mickulin),” wrote Holcomb, “but the State also fails to mention where and when this conspiracy was formed, let alone naming a co-conspirator.”
But Snyder “properly considered” evidence of criminal activity when granting the state’s request to seize the money, and her considerations didn’t leave the seizure “grossly disproportionate” to the gravity of the crimes implicated, the opinion says.
A Little Background
On Oct. 22, 2023, then-Sgt. David Greninger of the Rawlins Police Department stopped Mickulin for driving a vehicle without working taillights.
Greninger asked Mickulin for his driver’s license, vehicle registration, and proof of insurance, says the high court’s account of the incident.
When Mickulin gathered those things, Greninger spotted a small blue vial near the gearshift — which Mickulin soon admitted contained cocaine, court documents say.
Greninger searched the vehicle and found within it a small amount of marijuana, a pipe and $23,006.
He arrested Mickulin and took him to the Carbon County Detention Center.
There, Mickulin told Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Special Agent Eric Ford that he, Mickulin, was a retired truck driver who lives in Wamsutter.
Mickulin then asked for an attorney.
But the next day, Mickulin agreed to talk to the agent.
He told Ford that he bought cocaine and heroin from “Pancake Chili Pepper,” his Salt Lake City, Utah, source, the opinion relates.
He also referenced other sources in Rawlins.
Half the money in his vehicle, said Mickulin, was from a cashed-out 401k and an insurance settlement. He believed the vehicle contained around $40,000, says the opinion.
Mickulin said he kept the money in his car because $5,000 and a gram of heroin had been stolen from his home.
Mickulin told Ford he had a half-ounce of marijuana in the trunk of another vehicle.
Greninger ran his drug dog around that vehicle, and the dog alerted on the trunk.
Ford obtained a search warrant and searched the vehicle, finding a small amount of marijuana, four grams of psilocybin mushrooms, a digital scale, a THC vape pen, and $31,220.
The total cash seized from both vehicles was $54,226.
The state filed a motion in the court that it sought to seize the money.
It claimed the money was from Mickulin selling drugs, and that Mickulin intended to use the money to further a drug conspiracy.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
