An attorney for Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock wants a judge to toss the criminal case over his client’s failure to appear at a legislative committee meeting where she had been subpoenaed to testify, new court filings show.

“Through this prosecution, the State of Wyoming seeks to enforce a legislative subpoena issued to Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock,” the motion filed Monday states. “But that subpoena was void from the start so this prosecution must fail as a matter of law.”

During an appearance in Natrona County Circuit Court, Hadlock pleaded not guilty in November to a misdemeanor charge of defying a legislative subpoena.

Months earlier, the Legislature’s Management Audit Committee subpoenaed the clerk to appear at its September meeting in Casper. At the time, the panel was investigating Hadlock for her role in a miscount and subsequent audit in the November 2024 election. The miscount stemmed from an error in her office and led to a dramatic undercount in the number of votes for a state lawmaker who was running unopposed.

But such an investigation is not the purview of the Management Audit Committee, argues Ryan Semerad, Hadlock’s defense attorney.

“State law assigns all investigations into suspected violations of Wyoming’s Election Code to the Executive Department through the Wyoming Attorney General, the local county prosecuting attorney, or the county sheriff,” Semerad’s motion states. (Emphasis from the filing.)

Furthermore, Semerad argues, the committee “violated its own enabling and governing statutes when it launched a public investigation into Clerk Hadlock for allegedly violating Wyoming’s Election Code.”

State law assigns the committee’s investigations, or audits, to the Legislative Service Office and requires strict confidentiality, according to the filings.

“The [Management Audit Committee’s] member-directed and public investigation into allegations that Clerk Hadlock broke the law was illegal two times over,” the motion states.

In a third argument for dismissing the case, Semerad contends that Hadlock was not given “fair notice and a reasonable opportunity to obtain counsel and meaningfully respond to the subpoena.”

“Even if the [committee] possessed any authority to act as it did, the [committee] violated Clerk Hadlock’s due process rights by serving her with a subpoena compelling her to travel 165 miles to provide in-person testimony on six days’ notice, including two weekend days,” the motion states.

Alongside the motion to dismiss, Hadlock also requested a hearing and a notice that the court may want to certify questions of law to the district court.

Weston County Clerk Becky Hadlock talks during the 2024 General Election Canvassing Board meeting and recount of ballots. (Walter Sprague/News Letter Journal)

How we got here

Hadlock’s conduct came into question by state lawmakers and other officials soon after errors in the November 2024 election resulted in a dramatic undercount of votes for Speaker of the House Chip Neiman, R-Hulett, in last year’s general election.

Neiman was majority floor leader at the time and running unopposed for House District 1, which includes Weston County. Initial results showed Neiman received only 166 votes, with another 1,289 voters undervoting, or leaving that part of their ballot unmarked.

Those numbers caught the attention of officials including Secretary of State Chuck Gray, who tried to contact Hadlock on election night. When she didn’t answer, Gray contacted the local sheriff’s office, who went to her home.

It was soon discovered that Hadlock’s mistake of using misprinted ballots caused the miscount. While a hand count of ballots resolved the matter, a post-election audit submitted by Hadlock also raised additional concerns.

Since then, multiple investigations have been completed, including by Gray, who recommended Hadlock’s removal from office.

Meanwhile, Gov. Mark Gordon is now investigating Hadlock for a second time after four of her constituents submitted official complaints. After the first investigation, Gordon concluded in May that while “Hadlock made many serious mistakes in the 2024 Weston County elections, her actions do not rise to the level of misconduct or malfeasance, as I understand the meaning of those terms in this situation.”

The process, as laid out in state statute, does not give the governor unilateral discretion to remove an elected official. Instead, the governor is tasked with determining whether to recommend that the attorney general seek the clerk’s removal in district court.

This article was originally published by WyoFile and is republished here with permission. WyoFile is an independent nonprofit news organization focused on Wyoming people, places and policy.

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