Case Explained: Prosecutor in Rep. Allemand’s DUI case rebuts claims of unconstitutional arrest – Legal Perspective

CASPER, Wyo. — The Johnson County prosecutor handling Natrona County Rep. Bill Allemand’s alleged DUI case has filed rebuttals to defense motions to suppress evidence on constitutional grounds and inspect a broad array of records related to the state crime lab that processed the blood sample and showed an alleged blood-alcohol level three times the legal limit.

Allemand, a Midwest resident and member of the House Appropriations Committee, is presumed innocent unless found or pleading guilty. 

During the traffic stop after a REDDI report last December in Johnson County, the deputy observed signs of intoxication and a firearm in Allemand’s truck, according to court records.

Vang wrote that none of those alleged signs — including unsteadiness on his feet and slurred speech — were proof of intoxication, and that the deputy’s subsequent decision to place Allemand in handcuffs amounted to a custodial arrest without probable cause. 

Johnson County prosecuting attorney Joshua Stenaas argued that extensive case law supported temporary detention under the circumstances for officer safety. The March 13 filing also contradicts the claim in Vang’s filing that Allemand was handcuffed while doing field sobriety tests, and that body cam footage would support the state’s assertion. 

As the deputy responded to the REDDI report from I-25 northbound around noon on December 28, he saw both the reporting party’s vehicle and Allemand’s blue Tacoma. The deputy said he followed the truck as it took an off-ramp and saw it nearly get into a crash before braking abruptly while pulling onto the main road into Buffalo.  

“The near collision at the bottom of the exit ramp constitutes objective, articulable evidence of unsafe driving,” the prosecutor’s filing states. “This is not innocuous behavior but instead conduct which presents an immediate public safety hazard.”

After the truck pulled into a travel center, the deputy approached the vehicle and knocked on the window to get his attention, the new filing says.

After Allemand got out and reached back into the truck to get his license as requested, the deputy noticed the pistol on the seat. The deputy instructed Allemand to step away from the vehicle and put him in handcuffs until another deputy arrived on scene. The filing adds that Allemand’s vehicle was still running.

“The Defendant’s reckless movement and position in relation to a loaded firearm created the officer safety concern,” Stenaas wrote in the filing.  “An intoxicated individual in possession of a firearm presents a specific, articulable safety concern which distinguished this situation from an ordinary traffic stop.”

The fact that Allemand had a permit for the gun “does not eliminate the danger posed by a potentially impaired person with a loaded weapon,” Stenaas wrote.

Stennas says that the totality of evidence available to the deputy elevated the interaction to an  “investigatory” or “Terry stop,” which requires only a reasonable suspicion that a crime in taking place. As such, Allemand’s spontaneous admission to drinking “two beers,” — including the last one while on the road between between Casper and Midwest — would still be admissible and not subject to suppression under Miranda rules.

Both empty and unopened cans of beer were observed in the truck, the filing states.

The deputy said he placed Allemand under arrest for DUI after Allemand was reportedly unable to keep his balance, while un-cuffed, during the horizontal-gaze test. Allemand reportedly provided a blood sample at the hospital, which later came back at a .24% BAC, before he was booked into the jail. The legal limit in Wyoming .08%.

Last month, Vang also filed an 11-page “Motion to Compel Blood Testing Discovery” asking for extensive documentation of the lab’s accreditations, manuals, maintenance and repair logs, chain-of-custody procedures, proficiency testing results, audit evaluations, memos, emails and the identities of the analysts. 

It asked for expiration dates of the chemicals and “all documentation reflecting the calibration of all the balances, flasks, containers, pipettes, or other equipment used in assessing the specimen at issue in this case.”

Stenaas wrote his rebuttal that the state had turned over everything required by law, and that the remaining demands are either outside the scope of discovery, not in the state’s constructive possession or are freely obtainable by counsel.  Stenaas also asked Vang to produce and “books, papers, documents, photographs, tangible objects or copies thereof” which the defense intended to use at trial.

A hearing to consider the motions will be held later this month before Fourth Judicial District Judge Jeremy Kisling in Johnson County.

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