The downtown store, the Bent and Rusty, posted signs on their doors establishing mask wearing was not required and unconstitutional, despite the county ordinance. When brought to the Albany County Attorney, Peggy Trent, the Bent and Rusty was charged but not prosecuted.
Constitutional Law Professor, Stephen Feldman, said “from my perspective, it’s constitutional to have the mask mandates.”
“The only issues that I’ve seen where mask mandates are partly unconstitutional were cases involving religious institutions. Lots of people are making these claims about constitutionality but it doesn’t mean they’re well founded claims.
“This particular instance where they posted a sign on a door saying mask mandates are unconstitutional by the Patriot Act, that is total nonsense,” Feldman said.
Despite many citizen based complaints about the Bent and Rusty, Trent defended her decision since many other Laramie businesses who are not following COVID guidelines were not prosecuted. Trent said other Laramie businesses were explicitly linked to spreading the virus, but were not able to be prosecuted; the Bent and Rusty was not linked to spreading the virus.
Trent suggested since the Bent and Rusty is a retail store, where there are not large gatherings of people, the virus will not transmit as easily, compared to a bar or restaurant.
“Are they in violation in my legal opinion? Yes. But I didn’t feel it was appropriate when there are other businesses downtown that equally if not more have violated the statewide orders and there was no probable cause found,” Trent said.
As the Albany county prosecuting attorney, Trent is responsible for enforcing violations of statewide health orders. Trent said the state-wide mask mandates do apply to our downtown businesses, so when there is a violation of the mandates, businesses are referred to public health.
Albany County Public Health contacts the business owners about compliance and COVID safety education. If it is clear the businesses are intentionally noncompliant, the case is forwarded to Trent’s office for review and potential prosecution.
“I did charge the Bent and Rusty, along with six other businesses,” Trent said.
The judge then determines if there is probable cause to prosecute these businesses and individuals.
The Albany County Judge had a conflict of interest in the Bent and Rusty case, either from knowing the business owners or having opinions that would sway the outcome of the case, so the cases were sent to a judge in another county.
The Judge found probable cause to prosecute only for the Bent and Rusty, and not the six other businesses. Trent was not told why.
“I decided to dismiss the Bent and Rusty at that point. I filed against businesses across the board: restaurants, bars, beauty salons and other businesses. At this point, I didn’t feel it was appropriate to go forward with the Bent and Rusty because it didn’t contribute to contact spreading as much as other establishments where there was no probable cause found,” Trent said.
Trent said she is considering charging the Bent and Rusty and other businesses again in the future.
