CASPER - A 20-year-old Casper man admitted in Natrona County District Court on Thursday that he had confined a man against his will, pointed a gun at his chest and threatened his life in a Casper alley on Feb. 13. The man was someone Odom allegedly called a “snitch.”
Michael Cody Odom, accompanied by attorney Kurt Infanger, entered a complicated plea deal with Natrona County Assistant District Attorney Jeff Meyer that had him plead guilty to three felonies in exchange for one felony. An aggravated assault and battery charge was dismissed.
The deal also includes concurrent sentences on the three charges: Aggravated kidnapping, use of a firearm to commit a felony, and witness tampering. Sentences for each charge would be capped at 10 years.
The aggravated kidnapping charge carried a potential 20-year sentence, use of a firearm is 10 years, and witness tampering is five.
Meyer also agreed not to file a charge related to Odom using a stolen weapon to threaten his victim. He agreed that Odom’s sentence in a separate Walmart theft case being heard Monday would also be concurrent with the sentences in Thursday’s charges.
However, a probation-violation sentence on a 2024 theft case would not necessarily be concurrent and could be argued to be made consecutive at his sentencing.
Judge Joshua Eames restated the deal to Odom and asked if he understood.
“Yes, sir,” Odom said in a strong voice.
Odom then pleaded guilty to the three charges and answered questions from Infanger about the Feb. 13 incident. He admitted to having a gun.
“It was present with you and you did use it?”
“Yes, sir,” he said.
Odom also agreed with Infanger that he intended to use the gun to intimidate or retaliate against a witness. He offered no further details.
Meyer asked the judge to use the affidavit to fill in the gaps in the factual basis for the guilty pleas.
Waiting On Investigation
Eames told Odom he would wait to accept the agreement until after his pre-sentence investigation and reminded him that he needed to cooperate with the probation office on providing information for a report.
Infanger asked the judge to lift Odom’s bond so he could become a trustee in the Natrona County jail. The judge agreed.
Charges against Odom stem from an initial report to Casper Police at 8:50 a.m. on Feb. 13 that =scary guys” were in the area of South Walsh Drive, and an overheard conversation between those involved asking each other if they were “ready to do this.”
Officers found a 26-year-old man who told them Odom threatened him with a handgun while a 39-year-old accomplice held a knife to his side.
The threats happened when he was in a blue Dodge Challenger with those two men plus a 43-year-old man, he told police.
Police found the Challenger traveling westbound on Yellowstone Highway and made a high-risk stop of the trio. Odom was the front-seat passenger, and a search of the vehicle found a backpack on the front passenger-seat floor with a Springfield XD45 handgun, the arrest affidavit states.
The alleged victim told police he had met with several individuals around Casper and had gone to a residence where Odom was present. The man said he and Odom had a previous “beef” over dating a woman and that “Odom had told him that he had seen his ‘papers' and knew him to be a ‘snitch.’"
The alleged victim denied the accusation and said Odom left the residence with others to “possibly seek out purchasing more illicit substances,” the affidavit states.
Called A ‘Snitch’
The victim then went to the Flying J Travel Center on SE Wyoming Boulevard with others and called the 43-year-old man, who arrived with Odom.
There, Odom again allegedly confronted the alleged victim about being a “snitch.”
The 26-year-old told police that Odom, who was in the front seat, motioned for him to get in the back seat. He obliged.
The alleged victim told police he was driven to Spring Hill Apartments, where the 39-year-old walked out of his apartment with a woman and two children.
The 26-year-old was told “when you snitch that is what you take away.”
The 26-year-old told police he was standing with Odom and the 43-year-old when the 39-year-old motioned him to approach.
The alleged victim said he saw a pistol in a bag in Odom’s possession. He feared he would be shot in the back, so he did not move, the affidavit states.
The trio then allegedly circled him and began to push him down the street to a more secluded area.
“As the group began to walk down the street with the alleged victim in the middle, people began to stare, so the 43-year-old went back to his vehicle. A knife was produced directing the 26-year-old into the car,” the affidavit states.
The alleged victim told police the 43-year-old told the others that “I don’t think we should kill him.”
Once in the car, the alleged victim told police the 39-year-old held a black knife to his side as he sat in the back seat, and the 43-year-old drove with Odom in the passenger seat in front.
Handgun To Chest
On exiting the car in an alley, Odom produced the handgun and “held it against his chest,” the alleged victim told police.
“(Odom) said he wanted to ‘hit this lick’ or rob him,’” the affidavit states the alleged victim told police. “At that point, (the 43-year-old) stepped in and asked Odom why, since (the alleged victim) had just gotten out of jail.”
The victim then told police he lied and told the trio he had “1,200” dollars n Evansville.
An argument developed about the 26-year-old needing to have the money before the men discussed who would kill him: Odom or the 39-year-old.
The 39-year-old told Odom he could do it and Odom appeared “enthusiastic.” The trio began pushing the 26-year-old to the back of the vehicle, the affidavit states.
Odom went to back to the car and produced a knife when he came back, but the alleged victim said he might have handed it to someone.
Odom then allegedly struck the victim in the head, causing his head to hit the vehicle, the 26-year-old told police.
Odom then kept striking him and the 26-year-old said he put up his arms to defend himself.
The alleged victim told police that as he was being hit, he backed up and tripped over a log.
The 26-year-old told police he was getting frustrated and asked the trio, “Are we going to do this?”
At that point, the trio became distracted. The alleged victim got off the ground and the three men got back into the vehicle.
The trio demanded the alleged victim get back in, but the victim told them that if they thought he was being tracked by law enforcement, it made no sense for them to want him in the car.
The 43-year-old allegedly told the victim “I am disappointed in you, but you are right,” and drove off, the affidavit states.
“Talking Bad”
A police interview with the 43-year-old said the alleged victim called him and asked to be picked up at the Flying J. He said Odom showed the 26-year-old information on his phone that showed paperwork confirming he had provided police information for a case.
The 43-year-old admitted to “talking bad” to the alleged victim but said the trio did not touch him.
He said both Odom and the 39-year-old were telling the 26-year-old that they should “smoke him” but did not think anyone intended to kill the alleged victim.
The 43-year-old told police Odom did have a firearm in his backpack, but he never saw him pull it out and threaten the 26-year-old.
The 43-year-old also told police he saw Odom pull a knife and “used it to emphasize what he was saying while talking with the victim.”
The 39-year-old told police he received a call from Odom saying he was with the alleged victim. The 39-year-old said he told Odom to bring the man over so they could fight.
He said when they arrived, they went to look for a place to fight, and he never saw a knife, gun, or backpack.
He told police he decided fighting the 26-year-old “wasn’t worth it” and said Odom punched the alleged victim a couple of times. He said the alleged victim tried to get in the car afterward, but they would not let him.
Odom refused to speak with police, the affidavit states.
Dale Killingbeck can be reached at dale@cowboystatedaily.com.
