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Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's managing editor, Greg Johnson.

Greg Johnson

Crime & Courts

Courts

Prosecutors claim that a Fremont County BLM law enforcement officer accused of killing another man during a January bar fight didn’t act responsibly to protect others, and instead “advances like a predator” before applying a deadly chokehold.

That characterization of how Richard “Deak” Dollard acted on the evening of Jan. 9 during a brawl at the Maverick Bar in Lander is included in a Thursday prosecution response to a motion from Dollard’s attorney to dismiss the second-degree murder charge he faces.

The June 8 motion filed by Casper-based defense attorney Ryan Semerad argues Richard Dollard can’t be prosecuted “for his proper use of reasonable defensive force to protect others.”

Those others include Dollard’s brother, Justin, and nephew, Jesse, who were both involved in a physical fight with 38-year-old Evan Denevan.

Denevan was fighting with Justin when Richard came into the room and pulled Denevan off his brother, putting him in a restraining hold that prosecutors refer to as a “chokehold” in court documents, but the defense adamantly denies any choking pressure was applied.

What both sides seem to agree on is what was captured on multiple cellphone videos and bar surveillance is Richard holding Denevan around his face and neck area for about 30 seconds, then putting him on the floor.

He died at the scene, according to court documents.

In his motion to dismiss, Semerad argues that Denevan was the aggressor and that Richard acted calmly and with restraint to protect his brother and others from danger.

Only after someone at the bar called out multiple times for Denevan to stop “did Richard step in, taking hold of Evan to pull him away from Justin, the woman, and the crowd of bar patrons standing within punching distance,” the motion to dismiss says.

“I don’t believe my client was angry or emotional,” Semerad told Cowboy State Daily on Friday. “I think he saw the situation and his mentality was not anger or emotion, it was, ‘How do I protect everyone in this situation from being hurt.’”

That’s not what the evidence and witnesses show, prosecutors allege in their response.

“The defendant advances like a predator — he appears to know his goal when he enters the room and he advances unchecked upon the same,” according to the response. “He advances intentionally and deliberately.”

Semerad called the description of his client as a “predator” in the response as “pure rhetoric” and an attempt to “try to characterize this encounter” as something it wasn’t.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"‘Reasonable Force’"}]

That Richard Dollard only applied a non-lethal hold on Denevan is clearly “not the case” based on video and other evidence, prosecutors say. Most notably, if the hold was non-lethal, why did he die?

“Although the defendant’s claim is that he gripped the decedent in a non-lethal hold meant to control the situation, the video makes it quite clear that this is not the case,” the response to the motion to dismiss says.

“The hold is lethal by self-definition of the circumstances,” the document adds.

Conversely, Semerad said it’s murky at best about what caused Denevan to die that night, as there were other potential health issues that may have contributed to his death.

“There seems to be some kind of disconnect” in what really caused his death, Semerad said. “He perceived the decedent attacking his brother … and there were people in harm’s way. 

“He came over to protect everybody with the use of reasonable force.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"},{"type":"bold"}],"text":"That Night"}]

An evidentiary affidavit by a Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agent filed days after the incident in Lander Circuit Court describes a brawl which at one point contained eight to 10 people, unfolding at the Maverick Bar around 11 p.m. on Jan. 9.

A 911 caller beckoned Lander Police Department officers to the scene at around 11:15 p.m. 

The caller indicated “we have someone down at the Maverick Bar, he’s not breathing, he’s all purple,” says the affidavit.

LPD officers arrived and found Denevan lying on his back near the pool tables with bystanders trying to help him, the document says.

Officers began life-saving measures, but later noted that the man’s face was “slightly purple in color” and they weren’t able to find a carotid pulse. Fremont County emergency medical personnel arrived as well to help, but “Denevan was determined to be deceased,” says the affidavit.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"LPD secured the bar as a crime scene."}]

Initial witness statements reportedly describe a fight between Denevan and the three Dollard men.

Justin Dollard in his interview with LPD detectives confirmed he was involved in the fight.

Denevan had previously said he would “whip” Justin, the latter reportedly said, and had threatened to fight both Justin and Jesse Dollard.

Denevan had yelled at the Dollard father and son, “If you come over here, I will kick your ass,” the affidavit relates.

Then, according to Justin’s interview and Jesse’s separate interview, Denevan removed his hat and glasses as if preparing for a fight.

Justin Dollard told detectives he approached Denevan, who came back and hit him, “and the fight broke out,” the affidavit relates. 

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.

All three have been set for a combined trial that’s scheduled for eight days beginning Nov. 2.

Dollards and Maverick bar 2 3 26

Cowboy State Daily is Wyoming’s largest newspaper with Wyoming’s most experienced journalists. 

<title>Lander Man Wants Murder Charge Dismissed, Says Force In Bar Fight ‘Reasonable’ | Cowboy State Daily</title>

A Lander man facing a second-degree murder charge for a fatal January bar brawl wants the charge dismissed, saying he used “reasonable” force. Prosecutors disagree, saying he “advances like a predator” on the victim in a Thursday response.

Lander Man Wants Murder Charge Dismissed, Says Force In Bar Fight ‘Reasonable’

Heinz mark

Mark Heinz

Outdoors

After repeatedly getting too close to people and possible food sources, a popular young grizzly called Miracle was captured and relocated by wildlife agents in Grand Teton National Park on Thursday afternoon.

It was the necessary next step for human safety and the bear’s well-being, Grand Teton spokeswoman Emily Davis told Cowboy State Daily early Friday.

Miracle has been hanging around the Colter Bay area, where she was captured.

Earlier this month, dog handlers with Karelian bear dogs were brought in to try hazing Miracle away from crowded areas.

Fans of Miracle have assumed the bear was a female. That was confirmed when she was captured, Davis said.

The bear weighs roughly 80 pounds. She was tagged and officially designated “GB (grizzly bear) 1199,” she said.

Miracle is thought to be about 2.5 years old, and assumed to the offspring of another popular bear, Grizzly 1063.

Biologists think “it’s highly likely that she’s 1063’s offspring” but only a DNA test could affirm that, Davis said.

Miracle/Grizzly 1199 was relocated to a remote location in Grand Teton, she said.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"‘A Fed Bear Is A Dead Bear’"}]

“There have been no documented cases of her (Miracle/Grizzly 1199) getting a food reward” but the possibility seemed imminent, Davis said.

A bear getting food rewards, or becoming “food-conditioned,” as officials put it, is considered a critical tipping point. And it usually doesn’t end well for the bear.

“A fed bear is a dead bear” is a common saying among wildlife biologists and bear enthusiasts.

Wildlife agents recently euthanized a food-conditioned black bear in Grand Teton.

It’s suspected that food-conditioning caused the unusually bold behavior of a black bear near Golden, Colorado. That bear scratched a woman who was hiking and then 

, despite the woman continually shouting and throwing rocks and sticks at the bear.

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"‘Just A Matter Of Time’"}]

Wildlife photographer Marcela Herdova is an avid fan of Miracle and has been watching her with apprehension for the past few weeks.

Herdova told Cowboy State Daily she’s seen Miracle getting close to garbage cans and other possible temptations.

The Colter Bay area has been packed with tourists, increasing the odds that something could go wrong with the bear, she added.

“I think it was just a matter of time before somebody did something, like, not properly throwing away their trash, or even directly giving her something. So, I think this (the relocation) is the best move for her,” Herdova said.

“Right now, she’s still a little bear, but she’s still growing,” Herdova added. "She won’t be such a small bear for long, and that could cause some issues.”

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"Troubled History"}]

Miracle is thought to have beaten some steep odds to have survived this long.

She’s thought to be one of three yearling cubs with Grizzly 1063 in May 2025, and those bears were hanging around Colter Bay.

Bear enthusiasts claimed the Park Service trying to haze Grizzly 1063 and her cubs away from Colter Bay caused them to temporarily split up, leaving the cubs vulnerable to the male’s attack.

Park officials stated there was no evidence the hazing contributed to the attack.

The third cub, thought to be Miracle, briefly reunited with Grizzly 1063 but later apparently split from its mother again.

Miracle was captured and relocated in July 2025.

Bear watchers wondered if the cub could make it on its own at such a young age because grizzlies don’t typically separate from their mothers until age 2.

Miracle’s fans were thrilled when she 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"‘The First Grizzly They Got To See’"}]

With Miracle apparently having worn out her welcome at Colter Bay, it’s bittersweet to see her relocated, Herdova said.

“I do think that they (the Park Service) have expended so much effort to keep Miracle safe, and I appreciate that,” she said.

Herdova added she’s seen numerous instances of wildlife getting into trouble, because of human interference.

That included watching a black bear digging into an overflowing garbage can, which has since been removed, she said.

And she’s watched a fox “posturing” right next to people, apparently trying to get food from them.

Miracle has been the most highly visible bear this spring and early summer, Herdova said.

Grizzly 1063 has made some appearances with three new cubs, “but she has changed her behavior” and hasn’t been as visible as usual, she said.

Grand Teton’s most famous living bear, Grizzly 610, also “hasn’t been as visible” this year, Herdova said.

With Miracle gone, there might not be as many bear-watching opportunities for visitors, she added.

“It’s sad that people aren’t going to see her because, for many people, she was the first grizzly that they ever got to see,” Herdova said.

Miracle bear running 6 26 26

<title>Miracle, Popular Grand Teton Grizzly, Relocated After Getting Too Close To People | Cowboy State Daily</title>

After repeatedly getting too close to people and food sources, a popular young grizzly nicknamed Miracle was captured and relocated by wildlife agents in Grand Teton National Park on Thursday. "It was just a matter of time," said one wildlife photographer.

Miracle, Popular Grand Teton Grizzly, Relocated After Getting Too Close To People

Headshot of Cowboy State Daily's general assignment reporter, Clair McFarland.

Clair McFarland

Government & Politics

Legislature

Wyoming lawmakers meeting Thursday in Lander promised a crowded room repeatedly that they would fix a $3.9 million decrease in public school sports and activities funding that shocked parents and schools this spring.

The Legislature passed its new $2-billion-per year school funding model in March. A mix of hated and beloved changes have roiled the school districts. For example, teachers are on track for a roughly 12.8% raise, while other needs and wants have taken a hit.

The package’s architects voiced surprise in May, when the Wyoming High School Activities Association dispatched a plan for dealing with the $3.9 million activities shortfall that involved cutting sports, reducing travel and other reductions.

“I can tell you quite frankly that parents in Lander, myself included, are really aggravated about this,” said one parent, Randy Weisz, at the Thursday meeting of the Wyoming Legislature’s Select Committee on School Finance Recalibration, held in Lander’s school district central building.

“Lander’s taken a hit, but I had no idea what all these other schools were getting hit with. My son said, ‘They should be really mad,’ and I completely agree with that.”

Committee Co-Chair Rep. Scott Heiner, R-Green River, reassured meeting attendees repeatedly that the committee seeks to fix the issue.

“In my mind and I think in the mind of most of the committee members here, activities are an extension of the classroom,” said Heiner. “It provides benefit for our students and we don’t want to stop that. We don’t want to deemphasize how important activities are for our students.”

Committee members and staffers floated multiple different strategies for fixing the problem.

Those range from putting activities costs into the rigid but well-funded “silo” of money the Legislature has reserved for classroom teaching costs, reverting to the old activities funding model but adding a 5% increase, or letting school districts choose the more generous of the old activities model and the new one.

The committee didn’t adopt one method Thursday. It meets again Aug. 25 in Cheyenne.

[{"type":"text","text":"Now For The Numbers"}]

Laramie County School District 1 – the state’s largest – is on track to lose more than $600,000 for activities. Lincoln County School District 2, based in the Star Valley region, is on track to lose $400,000.

Not all districts are losing money: 26 are slated for increases and 22 for decreases.

That’s because the new funding model doles out money for activities based on district population, not schools.

Anticipating that smaller schools have less economy of scale for propping up activities programs, the model historically has given more money for smaller schools and less for larger ones, on a per-student basis, 

 by Legislative Service Office fiscal deputy administrator Matt Willmarth.

But now the Legislature gives money based on the whole district’s population, not each school’s population.

So if a larger district contains a far-flung, tiny high school of 45 students, apart from its bigger high school of 1,000 students, the little high school still gets less per-student allocation for activities because it sits within a populous district.

That’s what happened to Cokeville’s high school within Lincoln County School District No. 2, multiple people testified Thursday.

“This legislation created a $130,000 hole in Cokeville that would have killed all activities in Cokeville within a single year,” said school principal Kenneth Dietz, who appeared via virtual link.

Dietz and other school administrators who addressed the committee over the two-day meeting thanked lawmakers for giving classroom instructors such substantial raises.

But they also lamented – resoundingly and on both days – that they can’t pull money from the instructional silo to fund other areas that may be suffering shortfalls.

Dietz voiced the same thoughts. He said the teachers at Cokeville have been willing to see money go toward activities that they knew were helping kids.

Other administrators cast it as tension-inducing, that their classroom educators are slated for big raises while other staffers aren’t.

[{"type":"text","text":"This One’s An Oldie"}]

The teacher silo is the culmination of an old struggle between the Legislature and the education sector. 

Lawmakers hear that teachers need more money, or that schools need more money to hire teachers. So they furnish more money to the districts.

In multiple cases, the money goes “sideways” – as House Speaker Chip Neiman would say – into other areas of education.

To be fair, Sen. Chris Rothfuss, D-Laramie, has told Cowboy State Daily in the past, those other areas have seen shortfalls as well.

Johnson County School District No. 1 Board Chair Travis Pearson echoed that Thursday.

“The same year we got the 8.5% raise to the teacher based (salaries), utilities got bumped 11%,” Pearson said.

Some committee members voiced reluctance to abandon the classroom silo. It's been a great compromise that carried the new funding package, committee Co-Chair Sen. Tim Salazar, R-Riverton, told the public Wednesday. 

"If I had to do a recalibration over again, I'd do it again," Salazar said. "Those salary increases had to occur. And if you monitor the state legislative process on recalibration, it was not at all certain (they  would have)."

Administrators gave varying answers on the extent to which the raises in the teacher silo would have reached the teachers without that restriction. 

that they didn't foresee the activities shortfall.

Willmarth said that this new method was known in January while they were sculpting the new spending package, but schools didn't voice outrage over it because the teacher silo - locking funds that could cover the shortfall - wasn't yet cemented into the legislation. 

[{"type":"text","text":"Mike Yin’s Idea"}]

House Minority Floor Leader Mike Yin, D-Jackson, offered the idea of letting districts use whichever model was more generous: the old one that funded activities based on the school’s population, or the new one funding them based on the full district’s population.

Most of Wyoming’s high schools suffer under the new model, and high school activities are slated for a $5.9 million reduction statewide.  

Middle schools gain $1.69 million and elementary schools gain $340,845, however, which is why the total decrease for activities shakes out to $3.87 million.

[{"type":"text","text":"Smaller districts with fewer schools benefit from the new model."}]

Niobrara School District No. 1, based in Lusk, is set for a nearly 30% increase to activities funding.

Goshen County School District No. 1 is set for the biggest decrease, percentage-wise, at 30% less for activities. Lincoln County School District No. 2 is next, at about a 28% drop.

Brian Farmer, executive director of the Wyoming School Boards Association, told lawmakers that even with Yin’s proposition, schools might still fall short.

That’s because schools have pulled from other budget categories to fund activities above what the model allocates and recommends.

In school year 2024-25, the districts spent $4.3 million more on activities than the Legislature envisioned and allocated.

So right now with the $3.9 million reduction and the freezing of “siloed” instructional money that once helped cover the districts’ $4.3 million boost, the activities bracket is falling closer to $7 million shy of the school system’s past provision, said Farmer.

Wyoming’s courts require the Legislature to adopt a cost-based funding model for public K-12 schools due largely to the state Constitution’s promise of a complete and uniform education system.

Rothfuss urged school administrators to communicate with lawmakers about shortfalls and excesses.

“You’re telling us we don’t provide enough funding: where? Let’s see the details of the expenditures versus the funding model spreadsheet you’re generating,” he said. “Get us that data so we can start to understand where we’ve fallen short in these categories.”

Rothfuss in February advanced significant changes to the new funding  model so that it provided more money for electives and other offerings, but so that some areas – like insurance costs – anchored more directly to each district’s demands.

Senate President Bo Biteman, R-Ranchester, worried aloud that Yin’s proposition strayed from the court-mandated mission of the Legislature.

“Not to throw cold water on it,” Biteman said. “You know I just want to make sure we’re evidence-based and cost-based here, not just going on what feels good.”

School heiner yin 6 25 26

<title>Wyoming Lawmakers Start Work To Fix $3.9 Million School Activities Shortage | Cowboy State Daily</title>

Wyoming Lawmakers Start Work To Fix $3.9 Million School Activities Shortage

Kerry Drake

Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak says stopping human sex trafficking is a new agency priority because for too long Cheyenne has been a “safe haven” for this form of modern slavery.

An undercover operation in Cheyenne led by two detectives resulted in two arrests for soliciting acts of prostitution last weekend. Kozak said the effort is the first in many years for his office, but he promised there will be more.

“People come to Cheyenne to make those (prostitution) arrangements because everyone knew there was no enforcement,” Kozak told Cowboy State Daily.

“But it’s a hard thing to recover women in the trade. Because there’s so much pressure on them, whether it’s drug addiction or physical abuse. Actually the situation that they’re in, sometimes it’s better than their real home life.”

Kozak said that 10 years ago, when he was Cheyenne police chief, his department began undercover operations to arrest human traffickers when he noticed the online activity was extremely high in Cheyenne.

“I went to my sergeant who ran the undercover unit and told him I wanted them to all go to human trafficking training because I think we have a problem in Cheyenne,” the sheriff said.

Kozak said the sergeant didn’t believe him until he did some research and looked at Craigslist and some other sites. 

“He said, ‘Oh my God, we do have a major spike here',” he recalled. “We started to make some great cases against traffickers, or what the industry might call a pimp.” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"A Costly Operation"}]

It takes lots of time and money for law enforcement to try to stop human sex trafficking, which is rarely prosecuted in Wyoming. Often the crimes are charged as sexual assault or child abuse.

In addition to overtime, the department had to buy cameras for undercover operations, have “buy money” available for stings, and create ads online. 

“Then the investigations themselves can take us out of state as well,” Kozak said. 

Successful results are difficult to gauge.

Kozak said his office was successful in helping some women leave the sex trade, but it didn’t happen until after investigations were completed and the women came to them.

“We have the resources to help them, we have housing, and that’s the goal for these operations,” he said. 

He said the police stings ended when he left the Cheyenne Police Department because the next administration didn’t make human trafficking a priority. 

“As sheriff, I’m bringing it back again,” Kozak said.

He said trafficking spikes during Cheyenne Frontier Days, which typically brings about 200,000 visitors for the 10-day event.

“During this first (sheriff’s) operation we focused on demand reduction, or what you would call ‘johns', because it’s easier than recovering men in the sex trade,” Kozak noted. “The detectives learned a lot and will change some things when they do that type of operation.”   

But the focus will shift soon to trying to find women and young girls in the sex trade as well, Kozak said, by using "reverse stings.” Undercover officers will pose as men wanting to pay for sex acts.

“We’ve trained every single person in the sheriff’s office; all 240 including the civilian staff, have all been trained in human sex trafficking,” Kozak said. “I wanted them to know that was our goal, to reduce the problem here.” 

[{"type":"text","marks":[{"type":"textStyle"}],"text":"All Personnel Trained"}]

Instead of sending a few detectives to training sessions, Kozak said experts came to Cheyenne. One such session was Tuesday, where assessments were made about what went right and wrong during the first sting.

“What we’re planning to do is take the money we’ve received from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and roll it back to pay for the human-trafficking enforcement,” he said.

The sheriff’s office under Kozak’s command signed controversial agreements with ICE last year to deputize local law-enforcement agencies to perform duties otherwise conducted by federal immigration agents. That included arresting and holding people in the county jail until they’re moved to a federal detention center.

In the future, undocumented immigrants arrested through agreements with ICE might be in jail in Cheyenne with sex traffickers who were captured by local law enforcement using funds from the federal agency.

The American Civil Liberties Union of Wyoming sued the Laramie County Sheriff’s Office in May, contending the agency didn’t follow Wyoming law when it signed the agreements.

The first two men the sheriff’s office arrested for alleged solicitation of an act of prostitution were David Drehbol and Christopher Miller, both of Cheyenne. The sheriff’s office identified Drehbol as a registered sex offender who was convicted in 2007 for unlawful sexual contact in Colorado.

The National Human Trafficking Hotline (NHTH) tracks sex cases in every state. The NHTH works closely with service providers, law enforcement, and other professionals in Wyoming to serve victims and survivors of trafficking, respond to trafficking cases, and share information and resources. 

Since the organization’s inception in 2007, it has 

identified 148 cases of human trafficking

Sex trafficking activity is difficult to track and prosecute. But Terri Markham, executive director of Uprising, a statewide anti-human trafficking group based in Sheridan, estimated Wyoming likely generates $12 million a year from pimp-controlled sex trafficking alone. 

Cara Chambers,Wyoming Division of Victim Services director, told the 

 that Wyoming is susceptible to this type of organized crime. She said Wyoming’s rural population and vast land mass result in many places where traffickers can set up operations undetected.

A large interweb of interstate highways also connects people to some of the biggest hubs in the West. 

“There’s a bit of a circuit that these traffickers will take their victims through to Las Vegas and up in California, and it goes through Wyoming,” Chambers said.

The Department of Homeland Security defines human trafficking as the use of force, fraud or coercion to obtain some type of labor or commercial sex act.

If you or someone you know is experiencing human trafficking, contact the national human trafficking hotline at 1-888-373-7888 or your local law enforcement office.

Kerry Drake can be reached at: Kerry@CowboyStateDaily.com

Kozak sex trafficking 6 25 26

A sex solicitation sting in Cheyenne led to the arrest of two men last weekend. Laramie County Sheriff Brian Kozak says it’s the beginning of a new effort to stop human trafficking that has been ignored for too long by law enforcement.

David Arthur Kubichek, 74