In the roughly three hours after news broke Monday that a Uinta County brand inspector had pleaded guilty to helping people torture a moose, the brand inspector was fired, a public official says.
Also, Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon condemned the act by Justin Martin, who pleaded guilty June 17 to one count of accessory before the act to felony animal cruelty.
Martin has not been sentenced and he reserves the right to appeal how law enforcement pulled evidence from his phone. Court documents say Martin was featured in a cellphone video encouraging Kylan Platt, as the latter aggressively spurred a female moose in ill health at a Uinta County ranch.
“This is absolutely irresponsible behavior unbefitting a brand inspector,” said Gordon in a Monday afternoon statement to Cowboy State Daily. “I hold brand inspectors to a very high standard. Mr. Martin is no longer an employee of the state of Wyoming.”
Wyoming Livestock Board Director Steve True had confirmed to Cowboy State Daily at about 1:44 p.m. Monday that Martin remained a brand inspector.
Gordon’s statement that he is no longer employed by the state came at about 4:05 p.m.
Pressed for more particulars on who terminated Martin and when, Gordon’s spokeswoman Amy Edmonds referred Cowboy State Daily back to True.
True said that he terminated Martin within that more-than-two-hour span.
“In that meantime, I have terminated him,” True said, adding that it was his own decision, and that Gordon did not influence that decision.
“(It was) my determination,” said True.
True declined to elaborate further on the personnel matter.
Cowboy State Daily reached out to Martin for comment via his attorney Joe Hampton, and will update this story should he comment on the termination.
About The Case
The case began after Wyoming Game and Fish Department investigators seized Martin's cellphone during an unrelated investigation in 2022. While searching, investigators discovered videos and screenshots that ultimately launched the moose abuse case.
After getting an additional search warrant specific to the wildlife investigation, officers recovered four videos tied to the May 2021 incidents, court documents say.
Game and Fish Officer Heather Sterling testified the videos showed a cow moose that appeared emaciated, elderly or sick. She told the court one eye appeared sunken, suggesting the animal might have been blind.
One video showed Kylan Platt climbing onto the moose's back and digging his spurs into the animal aggressively while smiling.
"He doesn't seem to have an issue in participating in this activity at all," Sterling said, comparing the scene to someone breaking a horse to ride.
Investigators said ropes were placed around both the moose's neck and one of its hind legs.
Prosecutors said Martin can be heard on the video saying, "Spur that son of a bitch" as he laughed and encouraged Platt.
Sterling testified investigators found Martin had sent the video to more than 20 phone numbers.
'Done For The Sheer Joy'
Another video, prosecutors said, showed Range Martin on horseback dragging the cow moose by a lariat through chest-high sagebrush until it fell while struggling to regain its footing.
Evanston Circuit Court Judge Michael Greer ruled at the preliminary hearing that prosecutors had presented enough evidence for a jury to decide whether the men intended 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," Greer said in binding the case over to district court.
Earlier this month, Range Martin and Platt each accepted plea agreements, pleading guilty to felony cruelty to animals. In exchange, prosecutors dismissed wildlife misdemeanor charges.
As part of those agreements, both men acknowledged Justin Martin was the person filming the videos and making statements heard on the recordings.
Their plea agreements recommend deferred felony sentences, three years of supervised probation, a $1,000 fine and a prohibition on hunting, trapping and fishing while on probation, although Judge Kaste will make the final decision at sentencing.
Justin Martin was the lone defendant preparing for trial until filing his conditional guilty plea.
His plea means every defendant charged in the case has now admitted guilt to at least one offense, avoiding what was expected to be a four-day jury trial next month.
Conditional Plea
Hampton said the guilty plea does not end the legal fight.
Instead, it preserves a single constitutional issue for appeal: whether Game and Fish investigators exceeded the scope of a search warrant when they discovered the cellphone videos.
Hampton said investigators obtained Martin's phone during an unrelated investigation under a warrant authorizing a search of data created between September 2021 and June 2022.
Because the alleged moose abuse happened in May 2021, he argues investigators should not have been reviewing material outside the warrant's authorized date range.
"If we're successful in the appeal, then the case would be dismissed, and the conviction would be reversed," Hampton said. "If we're not successful, then the conviction sticks."
Hampton said Martin accepts responsibility for the accessory charge and regrets how the incident unfolded.
"They were just trying to get the moose off their property," Hampton said, explaining ranchers wanted to move cattle into the pasture. "Martin agrees that he didn't do it in the right way and regrets that."
Hampton said Martin has changed how he handles similar situations in the nearly five years since the incident.
He also said the negotiated plea calls for two years of supervised probation and that he does not anticipate prison time, though he acknowledged the judge is free to impose any lawful sentence.
Judge James Kaste accepted Martin's guilty plea but reserved ruling on the parties' sentencing recommendation until the Oct. 2 hearing.
Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.
