The Sublette County sheriff and a deputy are seeking to dismiss former gubernatorial hopeful Rex Rammell’s lawsuit, which alleges his civil rights were violated when his horses were inspected for proper brand permits during transport.
Rammell’s lawsuit, which was filed in March, was brought almost four years after a deputy cited him for not having proper brand inspection permits for four horses and one colt, the complaint states. A six-person jury found him guilty in 2021, but he appealed that decision. Rammell lost his appeal towards the end of last year.
On Friday, Sublette County Sheriff K.C. Lehr and Deputy Ty Huffman said Huffman was legally allowed to stop and examine Rammell’s vehicle carrying livestock on June 27, 2019, without any reasonable suspicion, probable cause or warrant, a joint motion to dismiss the filing states.
Lehr and Huffman are moving to dismiss Rammell’s lawsuit, which requests $12 million in damages, on the grounds that there was no such violation of his Fourth Amendment right against illegal search and seizure.
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Rammell filed his lawsuit without an attorney. He argues the “right against unreasonable searches and seizures is so fundamental to the freedoms of our republic that it is nonsensical to have to bring it up,” the filing states.
“If it were not so, police officers could stop people at any time for no reason at all violating our Right to be secure,” the filing states.
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The police report, which was attached to the filing, mentions no suspicion of a crime that led to Rammell being stopped beyond his horse trailer having out-of-state license plates.
Rammell also says he was charged with five counts of failure to get a brand inspection “in an attempt by the prosecutor to make a statement,” the filing states. He argues a brand inspection permit is a singular number at the top of each brand paper, so at most, he should have been charged with only one count.
On the other hand, law enforcement can check for proper brand inspection under Wyoming statute. The case and lawsuit raised questions about whether the statute qualified as an exception to the Fourth Amendment.
There is not a clearly established law that states Sublette County law enforcement’s actions constituted an illegal search and seizure, the filing states.
Based on this, Lehr and Huffman are attempting to bring an end to the lawsuit.
Rammell’s complaint alleges the damage to his reputation from this case was irreparable and part of the reason he lost both the Wyoming Senate and governor’s race.
“He did not perform well in this election,” the complaint states. “He ran for governor in 2022 and was again badly defeated in part due to the damage his reputation had received.”
In March, Rammell told the Star-Tribune he is “politically done with Wyoming” because of this and has no intentions of ever running for state office again.
“I thought Idaho was corrupt, but Wyoming puts it to shame; I don’t want anything to do with this state,” he said. “I want to collect my damages and get the hell out of here.”
Clayton M. Melinkovich, the Sublette County attorney, declined to comment Wednesday because the litigation is pending.
