The man who brought a live, injured wolf into a bar in 2024 was sentenced in accordance with a plea deal on Wednesday.
Cody Roberts will have 18 months probation and a $1,000 fine. The incident, which brought global outrage to the small community of Daniel in Sublette County, is nearing its end.
Cali O’Hare has been covering the case for the Pinedale Roundup and was in the courtroom for the sentencing. She called up Wyoming Public Radio’s Nicky Ouellet shortly after.
Editor’s Note: This conversation has been edited for clarity and brevity.
Nicky Ouellet: You were just in the courtroom to hear Cody Roberts’ sentencing. Can you give us the vibe of the room and what happened?
Cali O’Hare: There were about 17 people from the community, family [and] friends of Mr. Roberts who were there to support him. You could tell a lot of the folks were ranchers who had taken a break from calving to be there, because that was really what was talked about in the hallway leading up to the start of the court. Lots of media, various newspaper outlets in the courtroom as well as wildlife advocates.
NO: For folks who might not have been following this case so closely, can you remind us why this particular case has become such a lightning rod?
CO: As the judge reminded us all, today in Wyoming, you can capture a wolf in a predator zone. That's perfectly legal. And had Mr. Roberts done just that and then disposed of the animal in accordance with state law, it would've been fine. But it was what came afterwards, after he took possession of that wild wolf.
He leashed it. He muzzled it. Photos and videos show the animal leashed and muzzled and languishing on the floor of the Green River Bar in Daniel, Wyoming. Witness testimony indicates that the animal did not wanna be there, seemed to be in pain and suffering, and so therein lies the cruelty charge. And that is what the judge pointed out to us.
I think it was those photos and videos that really brought the global outrage toward Sublette County. Those images were striking, and they went viral online. That is what really caught the emotions and the hearts of people all over the world.
NO: Did Judge Lavery have any messages or thoughts to share with Roberts during the sentencing hearing?
CO: He acknowledged that for him as a judge, the charge in this case is disturbing and that what was done to this wolf was indeed cruel, and that was the crime. He emphasized that he believes that Mr. Roberts is remorseful when he made that statement, apologizing to the community and his family at the March 5 change of plea hearing. That seemed to stick with Judge Lavery.
Taking into consideration “the crime, the circumstances of the crime and Mr. Roberts’ character,” Judge Lavery believes that there are really some things that Mr. Roberts will get out of this probation for his benefit, if he does it right.
At the end, right before adjourning the court, Judge Lavery wished Mr. Roberts good luck on this process and said that [he] believes that he [Roberts] could be successful.
NO: Some of the terms of his probation: He won't be able to own, purchase or possess firearms. He will also not be able to use or possess any alcohol. That includes keeping alcohol at home. He won't be able to frequent bars, taverns or liquor stores. He also needs to begin counseling as recommended by a substance abuse evaluation, and he'll need to complete a level one alcohol program. Did Roberts have anything else to say to the judge?
CO: His responses today in court were really just formulaic. No statement from him. No apology, like we saw at the change of plea hearing. He was pretty quiet today.
NO: You've been covering this case since Roberts was initially fined $250 by the [Wyoming] Game and Fish Department. What's your takeaway? How has this affected the broader community, but also the state?
CO: I think it's important to remember all of the folks who have been caught up in this, through no fault of their own, in my community.
I think about last summer, when a photo of Mr. Roberts sitting at the bar at the golf course here surfaced online, and that resulted in a flood of phone calls from angry activists who were just tearing into the person at the golf course who was answering the phone. And that person was a high schooler working their summer job.
When this first happened, our senior center was the subject of online attacks, and we saw our sheriff's office have to set up a special tip line associated with this case because of just the deluge of calls to our two dispatchers at our 911 center here in rural Sublette County.
The impact on the services, the impact on taxpayer dollars, funding extra property watches, and funding patrols and things that might not otherwise be something that's a budgeted item for them.
There were people who want to support him but feel like, morally, they can't. There were people who are being attacked for sticking by him and supporting him. There are people who just also have the name Cody Roberts, who are being attacked because of mistaken identity. I myself was turned in by a group of animal activists to the state attorney general's office to be, quote unquote, investigated for a conflict of interest because I've been very vocal and disclosed throughout the last two years that my partner was very close friends with Cody Roberts growing up. So it also hits close to home for my family, too. Six degrees of separation, it's more like three degrees in a small community.
The impacts are far reaching, and I think that the one sentiment that everybody maybe can share today is that they're glad that it's over.
NO: I'm wondering from your perspective, people on both sides of wolf management advocacy are very, very passionate. And I'm wondering if you feel like this incident has brought people to some kind of common ground, or if this has further entrenched the two sides.
CO: I can only speak from my perspective. I would say that I think that the division, the nastiness, the vitriol that has come from all corners of the world through the internet has really put such a bad taste in people's mouths here. I really think that things got so out of control because the global spotlight was fixated on Sublette County.
I think that there was a missed opportunity by some folks who maybe wanted to use this as a catalyst for what they perceive as being positive change for these predators. And I fear that perhaps that was lost because of just these online activists and influencers, people who saw this as an opportunity to build a social media following, to gain more followers, to maybe even gain money out of this and some notoriety. Those folks have really, I think, tainted the process.
