A Sweetwater County judge did not immediately decide on a motion to dismiss a felony charge of animal cruelty against Cody Roberts.
The case rose to international attention after a video emerged of Roberts bringing a leashed and muzzled injured grey wolf inside a bar in the town of Daniel in 2024.
District Court Judge Richard Lavery said he will submit a written decision on the motion to dismiss, along with a decision on whether or not a Wyoming Game and Fish wolf biologist can serve as an expert witness.
Roberts’ defense team filed the motion to dismiss the case in mid-December, arguing that the phrase “in any manner” contained within Wyoming State Statute 6-3-1008 gave his client a “blanket license” to capture, hunt or destroy predators “in any manner whatsoever.”
Judge Lavery said he tended to think the defense’s interpretation “goes too far.”
He set a tentative date for jury selection beginning on Feb. 12.
If convicted, Roberts faces up to two years in prison, a fine of up to $5,000 or both. He is presumed innocent unless and until proven guilty in a court of law.
If the motion to dismiss is not granted, the case is set to go to a five day trial on March 9.
Roberts pleaded “not guilty” in November.
Motion to dismiss hearing
Recording devices, phones and laptops were not allowed in the Sublette County courtroom on Jan. 28.
There were 14 people physically in attendance watching the projected Zoom meeting screen. On the screen were Judge Lavery, Roberts, his counsel Rob Piper and Sublette County Prosecutor Clayton Melinkovich.
The pre-trial hearing lasted about three hours. By the end, a few people in the audience had already left. The judge even chuckled at one point after struggling for words and said, “I’m getting tired.”
The first hour and a half was spent questioning Wyoming Game and Fish Department wolf biologist Kenneth Mills, who the prosecutor is calling as an expert witness and the defense team is trying to exclude.
Mills testified that in his 25-year career, he’s personally handled about 250 wolves for things like captures, radio collaring and drawing blood for samples.
However, the defense doesn’t think his testimony is relevant, as he is an expert on wolves in the wild – not in bars.
At one point, Piper asked Mills if he’s observed wolves in a “grocery, tavern or restaurant?”
Mills said he had not.
But Mills pointed out he does have experience observing wolves being physically restrained, which he added is what he thinks is happening in the video that was leaked of Roberts handling the wolf in 2024.
Melinkovich specified he won’t be asking Mills to discuss whether the wolf was suffering in the video. But rather, Mills can offer an understanding of how wolves generally behave, which might help the jury interpret the video.
Melinkovich said that based on Mills’ expertise, “A wolf in a grocery store is going to try to get the heck out of there, if it’s healthy. And that’s the point.” The wolf in the video didn't seem to make an attempt to leave the bar.
After a short break, the judge heard about the defense’s request to dismiss the case.
Piper argued within Wyoming’s laws around cruelty to animals, there are exceptions for predators. Additionally, he thinks the words “torture” and “torment” are too broad of terms to interpret.
Melinkovich disagreed with that interpretation of the law, saying that predators are animals.
After about an hour of back and forth, the judge said he would issue his decisions in writing. But he added that he thinks the defense’s broad definition of a predator exception “goes too far.”
Further implying a trial will happen, the judge then turned to jury selection.
He discussed with Piper and Melinkovich how best to go about selecting an impartial jury in a highly publicized and polarizing case. The judge noted that he thinks Piper and Melinkovich are working well together, despite being on opposing sides of the case.
The three agreed that 100 people from Sublette County, where the incident took place, will be selected for the jury pool. The judge asked the two attorneys to come up with a questionnaire to help whittle that number down. Lavery noted he’s only presided over one case that used that method, and it was for a complicated case involving medical malpractice.
The three loosely agreed on Feb. 12 for the jury pool to meet at the Sublette County library in Pinedale, which will be open to the public. Ultimately, 31 people will be selected, with most being alternates for the 12-person jury.
How we got here
Jackson Hole Community Radio first broke the story that a man had brought a live wolf into a bar in February 2024.
The outlet reported Roberts captured a gray wolf, “then brought the wolf into his residence and later into a local business in Daniel, Wyoming, near Pinedale, before killing the animal.”
While it’s legal to kill wolves within Wyoming’s predator zone, possessing the wild animal is not.
Roberts was fined $250 by the Wyoming Game and Fish Department for possessing live wildlife.
Later, it was alleged Roberts ran the wolf down and over with a snowmobile.
The incident garnered international attention, with many wildlife advocates calling for harsher punishments. Some even caravaned across the country, raising money to try to change Wyoming’s predator laws.
The attention splintered through the small town. Thousands of angry, and sometimes threatening, phone calls filled voicemail boxes of local businesses, the sheriff’s office and people named Cody Roberts who had no relation to the wolf incident.
The backlash was so widespread that hashtags like #wyomingtorturestate and #boycottWyoming started trending.
But it remained unclear under Wyoming’s laws what other penalties could be applied to the case.
That’s due to a complicated history with the state’s ability to manage wolves. Wyoming gained jurisdiction over the grey wolf in 2012 when the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (USFWS) announced it was ending federal protections in several states. Legal challenges resumed the protections in 2014, but that was once again reversed in 2017, putting Wyoming back at the helm.
Some pointed to Wyoming’s animal abuse statutes. But Sublette County Prosecutor Clayton Melinkovich in an April 2024 press release said there are narrow circumstances in which someone could be charged with abuse of a predatory animal.
“It is lawful for a person in Wyoming to hunt predators from, with, or by use of a helicopter, automotive vehicle, trailer, motor-propelled wheeled vehicle, or vehicle designed for travel over snow,” he wrote.
Lawmakers spent the next summer considering changes to those laws. But they ultimately voted down several attempts to outlaw the sport of striking predators with a vehicle on public lands.
The incident rose to prominence again in August 2025, when a rarely called grand jury was convened to decide whether felony charges should be brought against Roberts.
The grand jury indicted Roberts on a single count of felony cruelty to animals.
