When Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agents raided Deb Palm-Egle’s Albin farm and confiscated her hemp crop in 2019, it kicked off a nine-month ordeal that upended her life and cost her tens of thousands of dollars in legal fees.  Prosecutors ultimately charged Palm-Egle, an elderly woman who often uses a scooter to get around, with multiple felonies related to manufacturing and attempting to distribute marijuana. After a five-month investigation, DCI agents alleged that’s what her hemp crop really was. That investigation crumbled quickly in court. A Laramie County judge took the unusual step of tossing the case during a preliminary hearing, finding the state’s evidence too flimsy for the charges to proceed to trial. Palm-Egle spent a little more than $54,000 in attorney fees to defend herself, court filings show. Ordered by a judge at her arraignment not to leave the state, Palm-Egle found herself stuck at the farm in Albin, though she lives in Colorado, for the better part of a year. That restriction, plus a drug test requirement, left her unable to access or use the medicinal marijuana that soothes the pain from her multiple sclerosis, according to her civil attorney Gary Shockey.  Palm-Egle declined to speak to WyoFile for this story, citing Shockey’s advice.  In May 2022, Palm-Egle sued over the lost money and hardship, in a case that has gone from federal court to the state Supreme Court and now is back in federal court with a trial set for March. But in the meantime, the Wyoming Legislature could make it impossible for others to sue the government on the grounds Palm-Egle has used — that she suffered because of a negligent investigation by law enforcement officers. The Joint Judiciary Committee voted 8-6 in November to bring a bill that would ensure no government entity could be held liable “for damages to a criminal suspect resulting from a peace officer’s negligent investigation,” as a draft version reads. The committee is acting in response to a Wyoming Supreme Court ruling in March, where the justices found 3-2 that the state’s peace officers are legally required to conduct investigations in a reasonable manner. The March ruling was the case’s second trip to the state Supreme Court. In the first instance, the justices found that the lead DCI investigator lied on the witness stand, and the prosecutor who tried the case was censured for allowing the false testimony to stand. Lawmakers’ forthcoming debate on the topic shows how the prosecution of Palm-Egle, who herself spent time in the statehouse as a prominent advocate for legalizing hemp farming, continues to reverberate five years later. The tight vote margins, both in the state’s highest court and in the judiciary committee, suggest a sharp divide.  A photograph included in a court filing shows Deb Palm-Egle and her son, Josh Egle, to the right of the photograph, with Gov. Mark Gordon at the March 2019 signing of a bill legalizing hemp production. In November of the same year, Wyoming Division of Criminal Investigation agents raided the mother-son team’s farm in Albin. (Screenshot from court filing) On one side of that divide are those seeking accountability from the state and remedies for someone harmed by an unfounded or flawed investigation. “The bureaucracies and the state of Wyoming reacted pretty quickly to my case to say: ‘Our peace officers shouldn’t have to exercise ordinary care and prudence and all that,’” Shockey told WyoFile this week.  On the other side are those, like the two dissenting justices on the state Supreme Court, who worry about the precedent Palm-Egle’s case could set. “It will invite every criminal defendant who is acquitted or has charges dismissed after a preliminary hearing to sue police officers claiming negligent investigation,” then-Justice Keith Kautz wrote in the dissent. “Officers will be reluctant to investigate, especially in close cases, for fear of being sued.” Justice Kari Jo Gray joined Katz in dissenting. The court majority also ruled, however, that the officer in this case, DCI agent Jon Briggs, couldn’t be held personally liable provided that he was performing his job. U.S. District Judge for Wyoming Scott Skavdahl sent the issue to the state Supreme Court after finding the law unclear on whether Wyoming allowed for a case based on a negligent investigation. With the justices’ decision, Shockey is now able to bring his case to trial regardless of what lawmakers do. But attorneys at the Legislative Service Office flagged the court’s opinion as one lawmakers may wish to address.  The bill has support from the Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police. Wyoming law enforcement chiefs found the state Supreme Court’s decision dangerous because of the vagaries of what could be considered a reasonable investigation, that organization’s executive director Allen Thompson testified at the judiciary committee’s November meeting.  “That seems to our members a very hard thing to wrap our mind around — what is and isn’t a negligent investigation,” Thompson said. The draft bill, he said, “helps law enforcement better understand the requirements and it doesn’t absolve them from other bad actions.” Rep. Ember Oakley (R-Riverton), a Fremont County prosecutor, said both policy and law already place checks on officers when conducting investigations. “To say that they are not … held to a legal standard unless they can be sued for negligent investigation is not correct,” she said. The state Supreme Court had gone in “a dangerous direction,” she said, but “this (bill) can fix it.”  That argument was echoed by other lawmakers, who said people harmed by law enforcement can find other grounds on which to sue. “I do believe there’s still going to be accountability for law enforcement officers. They’re not going to have free reign to do whatever they want,” said Rep. Barry Crago (R-Buffalo), who is also an attorney.  Shockey, who testified against the bill, told lawmakers his case focused on Briggs’ actions during the investigation and not on what happened during the preliminary hearing. But in his complaint, he questioned whether the state is in fact equipped to hold investigators accountable. “Internal review of Defendant Briggs and his conduct was also conducted by the State Defendants,” he wrote. “Palm-Egle does not have all the information generated in those proceedings, but on information and belief asserts that the investigation and those individuals and agencies involved were part of a concerted effort, if not conspiracy, to protect Defendant Briggs and deprive Plaintiff Palm-Egle of her ability to address the charges and process.” RELATED Supreme Court: Lying officer’s name stays in hemp-case record Judge tosses marijuana charges brought against hemp farmers In May 2021, the Wyoming Supreme Court found Briggs testified falsely during the preliminary hearing about a critical exchange with a worker during the raid on the farm outside Albin. The worker had sought to show him test results indicating the crop was hemp, not marijuana. Briggs lied again in a subsequent hearing when he said he had not read an email from Palm-Egle’s defense attorney, Tom Jubin, that asked him to correct the earlier false testimony, the high court found. As evidence, the court cited text messages between Briggs and the prosecutor in which the DCI agent discussed specifics of the email he claimed to not have read. But law enforcement agencies contested the court’s finding. The Wyoming  Attorney General’s Office filed a motion asking the Supreme Court to remove Briggs’ name and any statements that he gave false testimony from its censure of the prosecutor. DCI conducted its own internal review, and cleared Briggs of any wrongdoing, the AG argued, and the state Supreme Court “did not have jurisdiction to determine whether Agent Briggs engaged in wrongdoing or impose discipline against him.” The court rejected the AG’s motion. The Wyoming Peace Officers Standards and Training Commission, which can investigate officers’ conduct statewide and issue censures or ultimately decertify an officer, opened an investigation into Briggs’ testimony. POST’s director Chris Walsh also disagreed with the Supreme Court. “I concluded insufficient evidence existed to support the claim that you perjured yourself or attempted to mislead the court,” he wrote in an August 2021 letter to Briggs. His agency closed the investigation without any discipline.  Through a spokesperson, DCI Director Robert Jones said he could not comment to the press on ongoing litigation or on draft legislation. Briggs is still employed by DCI as an investigator, the spokesperson said. BEFORE YOU GO… If you learned something from this article, pay it forward and contribute to WyoFile. Our work is funded by readers like you who are committed to unbiased journalism that works for you, not for the algorithms. 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