Cheyenne Judge Gives Laramie County Sheriff 10 Days to Produce Arrest Records

Laramie County Judge Robin Cooley on Monday denied a request to hold Sheriff Brian Kozak in contempt over immigration arrest records, then gave him 10 days to produce the materials a Colorado law firm has sought for months. The deadline covers a log explaining why certain records were withheld, documents in a readable format, and written responses addressing each record identified as missing.

Cooley wrote that while Kozak and Laramie County Attorney Mark Voss did not fully comply with her July order to turn over records, the plaintiff had not met the burden of proof for contempt. "Plaintiffs have not proven by clear and convincing evidence that the failure to comply was willful," Cooley wrote. She added that noncompliance alone "does not establish civil contempt."

Kozak said in a phone call that he discussed the matter with Voss and expects to comply within days. "The law says you have to willfully, you know, withhold the evidence, and so of course we didn't do that," Kozak said.

The dispute stems from an April immigration arrest of Mario Fabian Valenzuela-Robles, a Mexican national and father of three U.S. citizen children. Lichter Immigration represents Valenzuela-Robles in federal proceedings and has said the records are vital to his defense.

Lichter Immigration sued Kozak and his office in July, alleging barriers to obtaining records, with former Wyoming GOP Chair Drake Hill representing the firm. Cooley later ordered production of additional records tied to Valenzuela-Robles' detention. The sheriff's office missed the deadline by two days, delivered some files in a format plaintiffs could not open, and provided no log for withheld documents.

Cooley wrote that the defendants helped draft the terms of the production order. She also noted that Hill sent Voss an August letter raising concerns about the records. The failure to address those concerns "prolonged a dispute that should have been resolved without the necessity of further Court proceedings," Cooley wrote.