A Fremont County judge has ruled that a former BLM law enforcement officer won’t have his second-degree murder charge dismissed on the argument that he was acting in the defense of others when another man died during a January bar fight in Lander.
Richard “Deak” Dollard, 54, inserted himself into a brawl involving multiple people at the Maverick Bar the evening of Jan. 9, many of whom were apparently also trying to break up the fight and didn’t need defending, District Court Judge Kate G. McKay says in her ruling on Dollard’s motion to dismiss the charges, filed Tuesday.
“The surrounding circumstances matter,” McKay wrote in a 21-page explanation of her ruling. “It was a melee. Every witness, including Defendant, his co-defendants, and Denevan had been drinking.”
Evan Denevan, 38, was involved in a verbal altercation between Dollard’s brother Justin and nephew Jesse in the moments leading up to a physical fight with Justin Dollard, according to the ruling.
As others in the bar also tried to intervene and separate the men, Richard Dollard, testified during an evidentiary hearing on his motion to dismiss that he grabbed Denevan from behind, with his arm wrapped around his face and neck, the ruling says.
Twenty-eight seconds later, he released an unconscious Denevan, who was pronounced dead by emergency medical personnel who responded to the bar that night.
“Whether Justin or Denevan was getting the best of the fight appeared to change with every moment,” Judge McKay wrote, citing extensive evidence seen in five surveillance videos from inside the bar that night and two other videos made by customers.
“During the restraint, Denevan’s head and neck were being pulled in an opposite direction by Justin’s grip on his hood,” according to the ruling, adding that others in the bar were also trying to break up the fight at the same time.
Because others were interjecting themselves into the melee to break it up indicates they didn’t feel a need to be defended; rather, they also were acting in defense of others as Richard Dollard claims, the judge wrote.
Although McKay said Richard Dollard appears sincere in his assertion he was trying to defend those in the bar that night, prosecutors have “shown by a preponderance of the evidence that the force was not reasonable under the circumstances.”
The judge concludes that her denial of the motion to dismiss only means that the case can move forward, and whether Dollard’s actions were reasonable that night is something “the jury will have to decide.”
May Petition Supreme Court
Just when a jury could hear the case may be in limbo.
While Richard Dollard’s second-degree murder trial is set to begin Nov. 30, his Casper-based defense attorney, Ryan Semerad, has already indicated an appeal to the Wyoming Supreme Court may be coming.
In a motion also filed Tuesday, the same day as Judge McKay’s order, Semerad asks to suspend the trial and other court proceedings in the case to give the defense time to review the judge’s denial and potentially file an appeal with the Supreme Court.
Semerad asks for a “complete written order explaining (the court’s) denial of Richard’s Motion to Dismiss,” which came Tuesday.
Then, he asks for 15 days to “review the Court’s findings and reasons and decide whether to petition the Wyoming Supreme Court for a writ of review,” the motion says.
Semerad didn’t immediately return a call from Cowboy State Daily for more reaction to McKay’s order, but outlined in his Tuesday motion that the reasonable force defense isn’t a question for a jury.
Wyoming law “does not give a person who used reasonable defensive force a defense to conviction,” he wrote in the motion. “It gives him something more: the right to not be prosecuted at all.
“That right can be protected only before trial. Once a jury is sworn, the harm an erroneous denial inflicts is complete, and no appellate decision issued after a verdict can give back a trial that the Legislature said should never have happened.”
The Brawl
McKay’s order on the motion to dismiss also gives a more detailed and visual account of what happened in the Maverick Bar that night, as seen from the multiple videos.
It was when Justin Dollard and Denevan started physically fighting that the brawl broke out, including two other people — described as a man in red and a woman in black — interjecting themselves to try to restrain the combatants, the judge observes in her ruling.
Richard Dollard “approached the fight, placed his arm around Denevan, and pulled him back and away from the fight,” the ruling says. “At the conclusion of the fight, Denevan was unconscious, not breathing, and was ultimately pronounced dead.”
The videos show Denevan sitting at a half-wall on the pool room side of the bar with some other people when he exchanges words with Jesse Dollard, Justin’s son and Richard’s nephew. Then Jesse goes back to the darts area of the bar.
Then Denevan says something to Justin, “who first speaks to Denevan from the opposite side of the half wall, then walks from the darts room around the wide beam/half wall into the pool room and confronts Denevan,” according to the ruling.
Clearly anticipating a fight, Jesse tries to move closer to the men as other men try to restrain him. Then the fight turns physical when Justin shoves Denevan against a wall, as the ruling says is shown by the videos.
The situation quickly escalates.
“Jesse has wrested himself mostly out of the grip of the other men and tries to engage Denevan, managing to push him a bit,” the ruling says. “Denevan takes a swing at Jesse before (another man) gets between them successfully.”
In the “split second” after Denevan taking a swing at Jesse, “Justin comes around them to reengage Denevan,” the judge continues.
By then, there are two skirmishes happening in the bar — the fight between Justin Dollard and Denevan, and Jesse again being held back by a number of other bar customers, the judge says the videos show.
“There are at least two other men at first, and later up to four or five, involved in trying to keep Jesse out of the fight,” McKay wrote.
Richard Gets Involved
Up until this time, Richard Dollard hadn’t been involved and can be seen in the videos standing against a wall in the darts room.
As Richard starts to make his way toward the commotion, “it is likely that he sees Justin shove Denevan. He also likely observed Jesse trying to push past two men and the bartender,” the judge wrote.
Richard Dollard himself testified during an evidentiary hearing on his motion to dismiss that he saw Denevan “throwing haymakers” at his brother “and heard someone say ‘knife, knife,’” according to the ruling.
Although it was obvious Justin Dollard was fighting with Denevan, the two available videos with sound don’t seem to catch anyone saying “knife,” the judge wrote. However, the audio does pick up a woman trying to intervene repeatedly shouting “stop, Evan, stop.”
Richard Dollard testified that “he was just trying to look for weapons and to separate people,” McKay wrote. “He first wraps his left arm around a man in a multi-colored blue-and-white hoodie.”
While restraining that man, Richard Dollard testified that, “I looked over, and I saw, just for a split second, what looked like a weapon in Evan’s hands,” the ruling says.
He then released the man in the hoodie and wrapped his left arm around Denevan’s neck area.
This is where some of the testimony gets contradictory.
Richard Dollard maintains he didn’t put a “chokehold” on Denevan, instead applying a “Gable lock,” a hold that doesn’t apply pressure to the neck, the ruling says.
“Defendant specifically testified that he was 110% sure that his arm was around Denevan’s chin and that he had no intent to access his neck or throat,” McKay wrote.
Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation Agent Brady Patrick testified that, after reviewing the videos and witness statements, he would characterize the hold as a “rear naked chokehold,” which is designed to put pressure on the neck.
“The hold lasts for approximately 28 seconds before Defendant begins to lose his balance,” the ruling says. “He testified that he tried to get his arm out, but Denevan was holding his arm, and then Defendant was pushed.”
Throughout the time he had Denevan in the hold, Richard Dollard said that he believed the other man was trying to pull away to reengage in the fight. He also was afraid the man might use a weapon.
On The Neck Or Not?
Judge McKay also goes into detail describing what the videos show at the time of Denevan’s apparent death, and Richard Dollard’s account of it.
“Defendant (said he) was shoved against the wall as Denevan fell. Once Denevan was on the ground, Defendant scanned for a weapon,” the judge summarized from Dollard’s testimony. “Seeing none, he stepped over and around Denevan.”
Realizing he couldn’t help Denevan and that the atmosphere in the bar wasn’t safe, Richard Dollard “went back to the darts room, took a drink of his drink, and left the bar a few minutes later,” McKay wrote.
By that time, he was being threatened by other people at the bar, then left when police arrived.
He said he left because “he did not want police to have a second incident to deal with,” according to the ruling.
The judge also noted the testimony of a forensic pathologist, Dr. Randall Frost, who was called by Semerad for the defense.
“Dr. Frost thoroughly and exhaustively examined Denevan’s neck internally and externally,” McKay wrote. “The only external injury was a small abrasion behind Denevan’s ear.”
The doctor also said he examined the video evidence, but could not see exactly where Richard Dollard’s arm was or if it was contacting Denevan’s neck.
“I could see that there was an arm across Mr. Denevan’s neck for some period of time,” he said, according to McKay. “I could not see exactly where it was contacting his neck, whether it was the [forearm] on the crook of the elbow or anywhere else.
“All I could see was across the neck.”
The doctor also said Denevan had a preexisting enlarged heart condition that also may have contributed to his death, but he couldn’t say that for sure.
According to the public-facing court file, as of Thursday morning, Judge McKay hadn’t ruled on Semerad’s motion to put the case on hold pending his chance to review and potentially petition the Wyoming Supreme Court.
Along with Richard facing a charge of second-degree murder, Justin has been charged with accessory before the fact to second-degree murder, and Jesse with accessory before the fact to manslaughter.
If convicted, Richard and Justin face 20 years to life in prison, while Jesse could get a maximum of 20 years in prison.
Greg Johnson can be reached at greg@cowboystatedaily.com.
