CHEYENNE, Wyo.—A federal judge on Wednesday denied the state of Wyoming’s request to dismiss a lawsuit filed by a Colorado trucker kidnapped early last year by a rogue state trooper.
U.S. District Judge William Downes of Casper on Wednesday wrote that he agreed with Wal-Mart trucker Richard J. Smidt of Arvada, Colo., that top officials of the Wyoming Highway Patrol had an obligation to be open and honest with him if they were going to talk at all about why former trooper Franklin Ryle pulled him over.
Ryle pleaded guilty last year to violating Smidt’s civil rights by kidnapping him. Federal prosecutors say Ryle planned to kill Smidt as part of a plot to stage an accident involving his truck to extort money from Wal-Mart. Ryle is now serving a 15-year federal prison sentence.
Smidt claims Highway Patrol officials paid him $10,000 early last year to settle his claims without revealing that Ryle intended to kill him.
Downes on Tuesday rejected the state’s claim that the settlement agreement should block Smidt’s civil rights lawsuit against the state from proceeding.
Smidt claims that Col. Sam Powell, former head of the Highway Patrol, had told Smidt that Ryle had pulled him over only because “he wanted your truck.”
Downes wrote that he agreed with Smidt’s argument that although state officials didn’t have to tell Smidt any reason for Ryle’s actions, once they started to talk they couldn’t be dishonest or incomplete about their explanation.
Pat Crank, a Cheyenne lawyer, represents Smidt.
“We’re pleased that the case is going to go forward, and hopefully one day Rick Smidt will get his day in court,” Crank said Wednesday.
Bruce Salzburg, Wyoming attorney general, said he had no comment on Downes’ ruling.
Misha Westby, a lawyer in Salzburg’s office, told Downes at a hearing last week that the state disagrees with Smidt’s claim he wasn’t informed of Ryle’s plans before accepting the settlement.
“In fact, a full disclosure was made to Mr. Smidt,” Westby said.
Ryle has testified that he intended to kill Smidt after pulling him over near Douglas in January 2009. Ryle took Smidt to Ryle’s house to ask his wife to help stage the accident. She later alerted authorities.
Ryle has testified that he released Smidt after having a change of heart. However, federal prosecutors argued Ryle only decided to release Smidt unharmed after realizing that the global positioning system in Smidt’s truck would have proven it had been stationary, not traveling down the road, before getting involved in any accident with Ryle’s patrol car.
In a court hearing last week, Downes called the state’s treatment of Smidt “somewhat sleazy.” The judge said it was only by the grace of God that Smidt wasn’t killed.
