CHEYENNE, Wyo.—John Barksdale, a veteran federal prosecutor in Wyoming, has died from injuries suffered in an automobile accident in Colorado. He was 62.
Barksdale had served as the chief lawyer on criminal cases in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Wyoming since 1992 and had worked in the office for 20 years.
Kelly Rankin, U.S. attorney for Wyoming, says Barksdale’s car was hit head-on by a pickup truck Friday as Barksdale was driving between Craig, Colo., and Baggs. Rankin says Barksdale was taken to a hospital in Grand Junction, Colo., and died Monday.
Barksdale is survived by his wife, Sheryl, and their two children.
Rankin said Barksdale was driving alone, returning from visiting his mother, Pauline Barksdale, in Grand Junction, Colo., when the accident occurred. Rankin said Barksdale was critically injured and that it took rescue workers an hour to free him from the wreckage of his car. Rankin said the two occupants of the pickup truck were not injured.
Barksdale’s family took him off life support on Monday morning after brain wave tests showed no activity, Rankin said.
“I am deeply saddened by the tragic and sudden loss of our dear friend and colleague,” Rankin said. “John was an exceptional public servant who left behind an enormous footprint in this state. But he was an even better husband, father and son, and our focus now is on doing everything we can to get his wife, Sheryl, and his children and family through this very difficult time.”
Gov. Dave Freudenthal, a former U.S. attorney for Wyoming, said Tuesday that Barksdale’s death was a tremendous loss.
“He was criminal chief when I was U.S. attorney,” Freudenthal said. “There’s really not enough good that you can say about John. Obviously, he was a dear friend of mine.”
Freudenthal said Barksdale was fair and thorough as a prosecutor. The governor called him, “really the kind of prosecutor I would have to have if somebody was looking at a case that involved one of my kids.”
Rankin and Freudenthal both said Barksdale was passionate about photography outside the office, but both men said that his main focus was on his family.
“He just had a real passion about his wife, his kids and his family,” Freudenthal said. “He was one of those guys who believed that you should do the right thing regardless of what the circumstances were.”
Barksdale graduated from the University of Colorado in 1969 and received his law degree from the University of Wyoming in 1973, Rankin said. Barksdale worked for the U.S. Attorney’s Office in Colorado in the early 1980s and worked briefly in private practice before moving to Casper.
Funeral services will be held Monday in Casper, Rankin said.
