National Law Enforcement Council compels prosecution of Cody Roberts for high-level crime
Washington, D.C. — The National Law Enforcement Council of Animal Wellness Action and the Animal Wellness Foundation called on Sublette County Sheriff K.C. Lehr and County Attorney Clayton Melinkovich to collaborate and advance a case of felony animal cruelty against a Wyoming man who ran over a wolf with a snowmobile, took the animal into his possession, bound the adolescent female’s mouth, and then tormented her, before parading her around a bar and then killing her out back.
“This was deliberate cruelty, particularly the public celebration of it,” said Josh Marquis, former Clatsop County (Ore.) District Attorney and NLEC co-chair. “This man’s actions clearly violate the laws against animal cruelty and go against human decency.”
“Roberts must be arrested and charged with animal cruelty,” said Drew Edmondson, former Oklahoma Attorney General and NLEC co-chair. “Anyone who would commit the acts that have been described has no sense of moral behavior or respect for the law. When we stamp out animal cruelty and apprehend people who have lost empathy for the suffering of others, we make our communities safer for everyone. In my view this individual poses a greater risk to society than the wolf.”
The NLEC is a group of current and former local and state prosecutors, attorneys general, and other law enforcement professionals who support fortifying the legal framework against animal cruelty and seeing that all of our animal welfare laws are robustly enforced at all levels of government. The NLEC has 27 members.
Cody Roberts, owner of C. Roberts Trucking, LLC, paid a $250 fine for possession of live wildlife. He has not been charged, however, with felony animal-cruelty, though Wyoming state law applies to the case and does not provide an exemption for wolves.
A legal analysis demonstrating that the fact pattern in this case warrants prosecution can be read here.
Animal Wellness Action has created an online petition to encourage local law enforcement to charge Roberts with the felony. That petition may be viewed here.