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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’

Kolby fedore

Kolby Fedore

For much of the week, the southeast corner of Wyoming sat beneath a series of severe thunderstorm and tornado watches as forecasters warned of damaging winds and isolated twisters.

For many Wyomingites, especially those living around Cheyenne, the warnings were nothing new.

While tornadoes often grab the headlines, longtime residents know another summer menace can be just as destructive: monster hail.

The southeast corner of Wyoming has earned a reputation for storms capable of dropping baseball-sized chunks of ice, shredding roofs, smashing windshields and turning an ordinary June afternoon into an insurance adjuster's busiest day of the year.

Meteorologists say that's no accident. Wyoming's unique geography helps create some of the nation's most favorable conditions for severe hail-producing thunderstorms.

Cheyenne meteorologist Colby Goatley said June marks the beginning of Wyoming's most active severe weather season because warm, moisture-rich air from the Gulf of Mexico finally pushes far enough north to collide with colder air arriving from Canada.

[{"type":"text","text":"That combination creates the unstable atmosphere thunderstorms thrive on."}]

Meteorologists begin each morning searching for the ingredients that could transform an ordinary summer afternoon into one filled with severe weather warnings.

Moisture near the ground, colder air aloft, an unstable atmosphere and shifting winds at different elevations all help determine whether thunderstorms are likely to become severe.

"June is an active month because the warm, moist air primarily from the Gulf ... is finally able to start intruding into this region," Goatley said. "Combined with the colder air we're getting from the north, it helps fuel thunderstorm activity."

[{"type":"text","text":"Justin Ochsner has spent years watching what those storms leave behind."}]

The Cheyenne roofing contractor with Residential Roofing LC said southeast Wyoming is so prone to damaging hail that people in the industry simply call it "a hail market."

"The general lifespan of a roof in Cheyenne is about eight years, just because of weather — between wind and hail," Ochsner said.

Elsewhere in the country, asphalt-shingle roofs often last 20 years or more. In southeast Wyoming, intense ultraviolet rays, relentless winds, freeze-thaw cycles and frequent hail dramatically shorten that lifespan.

"We do live in what we call a hail market because we get hit with hail so often," Ochsner said.

[{"type":"text","text":"Some years produce relatively little damage. Then the cycle flips."}]

"We might have a drought for three or four years, and then we'll get hit two or three years in a row," Ochsner said.

He points to Aug. 1, 2025, as one of the worst recent examples, when baseball- and softball-sized hail battered parts of Cheyenne. The phones started ringing as homeowners discovered damaged roofs across the city, he said.

Even homeowners who invest in impact-resistant shingles aren't always spared.

Fresh hail damage often appears as dark bruises on shingles, Ochsner said. Over time, Wyoming's intense sunshine eats away the damaged asphalt until the fiberglass mat underneath is exposed, eventually leading to leaks if the roof isn't replaced.

For lifelong Cheyenne residents, severe summer weather is simply part of living on the High Plains.

State Rep. Landon Brown, R-Cheyenne, remembers destructive hailstorms in 2018 and again last Aug. 1. But the city's history with violent weather stretches back much further.

As a child more than 30 years ago, Brown remembers tornadoes touching down around Cheyenne. His parents still talk about the 

 and the August 1, 1985 flood, which killed 12 people. The flooding claimed lives in what is now Brown's legislative district.

"Lots of stuff has happened here," Brown said. "We have such a unique setup here that a lot of people don't realize just how unique Cheyenne is."

That history has shaped how residents react when severe weather is forecast.

"If they know it's happening, they try to go find a place to go," Brown said, referring to moving vehicles under cover. "But there's also people that just ... know that it's part of living in Cheyenne, that we're going to have hail-damaged cars for a while."

While this week's storms have passed, Brown said nobody in Cheyenne believes the season is over.

"Frontier Days is always the time that we get one or two good storms," he said.

For Goatley, Wyoming's reputation for unpredictable weather is well earned.

Within the weather community, he said, forecasters know just how active the state can become during the summer.

[{"type":"text","text":"The public, perhaps, not so much."}]

"People are looking at the Plains," Goatley said. "But we're where the storms like to start."

[{"type":"text","text":"The answer, in large part, lies in the Rockies and the Laramie Range."}]

Storms frequently develop along Wyoming's higher terrain before drifting east onto the plains, where atmospheric conditions become especially favorable for hail growth.

"The mountains themselves serve as a great initialization for storms," Goatley said. "You'll see them form off that terrain and then move eastward."

Many of those same storms continue marching into Nebraska and Kansas, but southeast Wyoming often experiences the earliest and most explosive stages of their development.

[{"type":"text","text":"As Goatley puts it: \"We're where the storms like to start.\""}]

Goatley said Wyoming residents — particularly those living east of the mountains — are more likely to contend with hail and damaging straight-line winds than tornadoes.

[{"type":"text","text":"For newcomers, that's one of the first lessons summer teaches."}]

"Definitely the hail," Goatley said when asked what people moving to Wyoming should know. "Especially east of the mountains."

Although tornadoes do occur in Wyoming, he said residents shouldn't expect the giant, long-track twisters more commonly associated with the Southern Plains.

"It's definitely something to at least be aware of," Goatley said. "But definitely don't plan on any Oklahoma-style monster tornadoes."

Instead, Goatley said Wyoming weather demands respect because of its variety.

"Wyoming's weather is wild and wonderful," he said. "You get a little bit of everything. If you're bored of one season, just wait for the next."

Storm clouds over cheyenne 6 26 26

<title>In Wyoming's 'Hail Alley,' Giant Ice Balls Falling From The Sky Are Normal  | Cowboy State Daily</title>

For much of the week, the southeast corner of Wyoming had a series of tornado watches and warnings. While tornadoes grab the headlines, residents know the real menace is monster hail. "We're where the storms like to start," said meteorologist Colby Goatley.

In Wyoming's 'Hail Alley,' Giant Ice Balls Falling From The Sky Are Normal 

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.

Ellen “Ellie” Noonan, 89