Two out-of-state hunters are continuing to assert that they were wrongfully prosecuted for a 2019 elk hunt in Park County. They’re seeking millions of dollars in damages from the former Powell game warden who investigated the case, alleging Chris Queen and others violated their civil rights.

Dr. Blendi Cumani of North Dakota and Roland Shehu of Pennsylvania were initially charged with wanton waste, relating to four elk that were killed or mortally wounded in the Heart Mountain area. However, Shehu and Cumani denied doing so and presented evidence showing that the lone bullet recovered from the elk didn’t come from them; in 2020, a Park County jury unanimously voted to acquit the hunters and their guide of all charges. 

After the verdict, Cumani and Shehu asserted the case should never have been brought and that the investigation was flawed. In early 2022, they filed suit against the Wyoming Game and Fish Department, alleging the agency violated their rights under the Wyoming Constitution.

However, Park County District Court Judge Bill Simpson threw out the claims last year.

In April, he concluded that the hunters had waited too long to file their claim of malicious prosecution, as they needed to bring it within a year of their acquittal. Their second claim alleging civil rights violations was filed on time, as it fell within a separate three-year window for those allegations, Simpson ruled. However, he determined in October that the Game and Fish can’t be sued for such claims: The state “does not recognize the constitutional claim under the Wyoming Constitution as asserted by [Shehu and Cumani] against the Department,” the judge wrote.

He dismissed the claims against the Game and Fish with prejudice last month.

However, Cumani and Shehu filed an amended complaint in February, this time naming former Powell Game Warden Chris Queen as the lone defendant. They say he violated their rights under the U.S. Constitution, alleging wrongful arrest and prosecution. 

As they did in their initial complaint, the two hunters argue that Queen relied on “unverified reports of individuals who lacked personal and accurate knowledge of information they reported” and “failed to develop evidence that reasonably showed the existence of probable cause that either Dr. Cumani or Mr. Shehu had killed or abandoned elk or otherwise committed a crime.” They say Queen and unnamed others “misrepresented to and/or concealed from prosecutors the true and complete facts that had been discovered.”

Cumani and Shehu also allege the warden “wrongfully detained” them by “ordering” them to stay in Park County while the case was being investigated; Judge Simpson said last year that the men’s claim of an unlawful arrest “is not perfectly clear,” noting the complaint does not say when they were told to stay in the area or for how long.

Shehu and Cumani have indicated they are seeking $2 million in damages. The hunters say they “personally experienced substantial fear of being imprisoned and of having their professional and personal reputations irreparably damaged” and “each suffered physical and emotional pain and suffering and experienced substantial loss of enjoyment of their lives.”

The two men also note the “substantial” cost of retaining counsel and defending themselves, including the time away from their professional and personal lives.

At the request of Queen’s attorneys, the case was moved from Park County District Court to Wyoming’s U.S. District Court on Tuesday. Since he was acting within the scope of his official duties, Queen is being represented by Tim Miller and Prentice Olive of the Wyoming Attorney General’s Office — the same lawyers who represented the Game and Fish Department in the case’s earlier stages.

Cumani and Shehu are represented by Bradley Booke of Jackson.

While Queen has yet to file a response to the suit, the Game and Fish generally denied the hunters’ allegations in its formal answer last year. After the men were acquitted in 2020, Queen told the Tribune he knew it was a tough case, but that he felt he had enough evidence.

“If I had that same kind of decision to make right now, I would still charge those guys with that crime,” Queen said at the time.