Video of two men roping, riding and spurring a cow moose on a Uinta County ranch in May 2021 has helped lead to felony cruelty to animals charges for then and a felony accessory charge for third man.
One of the men in a video can be heard encouraging another riding the moose to “spur that son of a bitch,” according to testimony Friday during a nearly three-hour preliminary hearing in Unita County District Court.
The judge in the case ruled that, along with other video evidence and testimony presented, there’s enough for a jury to decide if the men had “intent (to) torture or torment” the moose.
Justin Martin and Range H. Martin of Evanston, and Kylan W. Platt of Malad City, Idaho, with their attorneys appeared in court to listen to evidence brought them against them following an investigation by Wyoming Game and Fish Officer Heather Sterling.
Special Prosecutor F. Gaston Gosar led Sterling through her evidence that included four videos taken from Justin Martin’s phone that had time and date stamps linking the men to the incidents.
Three videos and associated screenshots introduced in Judge Michael Greer’s courtroom allegedly show Platt at Justin Martin’s M Arrow Ranch on May 4, 2021, lassoing, spurring and riding a cow moose judged by Sterling to be in poor condition.
Range Martin appeared in a single video taken from Justin Martin’s phone with time and date stamps showing it was taken on May 24, 2024.
He had also lassoed a cow moose and forcefully dragged it through chest-high sagebrush, causing it to fall, prosecutors claim.
During cross-examination, Sterling told the court that during her investigation on Justin Martin’s property a carcass of a moose was discovered, “but not in the section where Kyle Platt was riding it."
She declined to answer whether she thought the moose was the same one that was allegedly abused.
Sterling said it was also hard to be definitive if the moose depicted in the videos on the different dates was the same one.
Despite arguments from defense attorneys there there isn’t enough evidence to charge the three men, Judge Greer ruled there’s enough to proceed to trial.
Greer said the question before him was whether a reasonable jury could possibly conclude that the actions by the trio in 2021 involved the “intent (to) torture or torment” the animal.
“When I look at the context of what appears in the screenshots of the videos and the comments made by onlookers and the photographer there at the time, this was done for the sheer joy of dominating a wild animal who appeared to be already in poor health and possibly blind,” he said.
“And the court does believe that a reasonable jury could find beyond a reasonable doubt that that constitutes an intent to torture or torment that animal,” the judge added.
Game Warden Testifies
During her testimony, Sterling said that the incident first came to Wyoming Game and Fish’s attention after Justin Martin’s phone was confiscated in July 2022 on another matter and a warrant obtained to search the phone.
During that initial search, the first video that came up was of a person later identified as Platt riding and spurring a moose, she said.
Sterling said she got another search warrant because any investigation related to the moose video was outside of the parameters of the initial legal search of the phone. Once that warrant was obtained, Justin Martin’s phone was found to contain four videos involving the moose.
Sterling testified the videos from May 4, 2021, showed the moose was a female because of a “white vulva patch” that could be seen on at least one of the videos.
She characterized the moose as skinny, with little body fat and either sick or old because of white hairs on its forehead and neck. One of the moose’s eyes was sunken in, indicating the moose may have been blind.
A 24-second video of Platt riding the moose seemed to indicate he appeared to “be enjoying himself,” Sterling testified.
“He’s smiling, and he is aggressively spurring the moose as if it’s a horse being broken to ride,” she said. “He doesn’t seem to have an issue in participating in this activity at all.”
Sterling said audio taken from the video had Justin Martin’s voice encouraging Platt as he rode the moose.
She said in addition to Platt having a rope around the moose’s neck, there was also a rope around one of its hind legs.
“In the video, you can hear Justin Martin encouraging this behavior and he says, ‘All right now, spur that son of a bitch, give him the dicks spur on him,’” Sterling quoted for the court. “'Spur him some more, go to the fronts, that’s a kid.’”
Sterling testified Justin Martin was laughing as he encouraged Platt.
The investigation also found that Justin Martin sent the video to more than 20 phone numbers she said.
Other videos linked to the May 4 incident show Platt before riding the moose standing in the bed of a Honda off-road vehicle with a lariat around the moose’s neck and holding it as the moose struggles.
Kneeling On Moose
Another image taken before Platt’s ride showed him kneeling on the moose, pinning it down while holding a lariat tight around the moose’s neck, Sterling testified.
He also had the front leg of the moose pulled inward toward its body similar to when a calf is branded.
The video from May 24 showed Range Martin with a cow moose standing in chest-high sagebrush with a lariat around its neck and pulling it while on a horse through sage brush.
Sterling said the moose is shown falling and struggling to get back on its feet.
She said Justin Martin could be heard saying: “I don’t think ole Roany likes that son of a gun too much.”
Under cross examination, Platt’s attorney, J. Craig Abraham of Gillette, asked whether she had attempted to locate the moose on the property.
Sterling replied that the area is a public access property “known to have an abundance of moose.”
Abraham asked Sterling if she saw any marks on the moose from the alleged spurring or any blood or other signs. He wondered what she saw in the video that she would consider “to be torture of the moose?”
Sterling said Platt continued to “harass the moose” and “torment her by spurring her on” in the video over several minutes.
Range Martin’s attorney, Jonathan Gerard of Lander, asked Sterling if she ever saw a rancher move cattle using a lariat and if she has seen livestock dragged using a lariat.
He asked if Game and Fish or other law enforcement agencies would investigate a rancher who lassoed a calf or cow and dragged it for a short distance.
Joe Hampton, Justin Martin’s Rock Springs-based attorney, asked what his client allegedly did to encourage Range Martin’s behavior. Sterling replied that he made the commend about “Ole Roany” not liking the “son of a gun.”
“And then he’s not stopping the behavior from happening,” she added.
“Did he do anything to encourage it?” Hampton asked.
“I would say filming the behavior is encouraging it,” she said.
Platt’s Lawyer: No Evidence
In his argument after Sterling’s testimony, Platt’s attorney told the court that there was no evidence that his client meets the legal standard for “torture” or “tormenting” the moose.
“The state has to prove at this juncture whether a reasonable person would believe that roping and riding this moose was either tortuous or tormented,” he said. “There is no evidence before the court that there was any markings on this animal.”
Abraham asked the judge to dismiss the felony cruelty to animal charge against Platt.
Gerard also told the court there was no evidence that Range Martin tortured or tormented the moose by pulling it with a lariat. He said Sterling did not know how far the moose may have been dragged.
“All the evidence we have is that it was dragged and it got up,” he said, adding that no evidence showed his client’s actions resulted in tormenting or torturing the creature.
He also asked that the felony cruelty to animal charge against Range Martin be dropped.
Hampton told the court that the evidence never showed Range Martin or Platt tormented or tortured the moose and asked that two of the charges related to being an accessory to felony cruelty to animals be dismissed against Justin Martin.
Greer ruled that Wyoming law and Wyoming Game and Fish regulations protect different types of animals in different ways.
He noted that moose are in a different class than livestock or predators and are among the state’s most highly protected animals.
“What this really comes down to is whether or not there was intent to torture or torment this moose and whether there was intent to cause it mental or physical suffering,” he said. “That is a subjective decision and that is why we have juries who are required to consider the question and determine the question beyond a reasonable doubt.”
Judge’s Observation
Greer also commented on the charges against Justin Martin and whether videoing the incidents constitutes encouragement.
He then read Justin Martin’s own words from the video where he told Platt to “spur that son of a bitch.”
“I can’t say for sure,” he said. “I think I know what a jury would consider (and find) that type of language to be doing — encouraging, cheering on.”
He then bound the trio and the charges over to Uinta County District Court.
Greer gave all three men a $5,000 personal recognizance bond and told them they are not to break any laws.
Justin Martin is charged with two counts of accessory before the fact to felony cruelty to animals, and two counts of accessory before or after the fact to wanton taking of a big game animal, a cow moose.
Range Martin and Platt are both charged with felony cruelty to animals, wanton taking of big game animal and possession permit required for live warm-blooded wildlife.
The accessory before the fact to felony cruelty to animals charges carry a maximum of two years in prison and up to a $5,000 fine. The accessory before or after the fact to wanton taking of a big game animal, a cow moose, charges carry a potential sentence of one year in jail and up to a $10,000 fine.
The felony cruelty to animals charges also carry potential penalties of two years in prison and a fine of up to $5,000; while the wanton taking of big game animal, a cow moose, carries a penalty of up to one year in jail and a $10,000 fine.
The charge of possession permit required for live warm-blooded wildlife, a cow moose, carries a potential penalty of six months in jail and a $1,000 fine.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
