GILLETTE, Wyo. — A Campbell County court judge this morning dismissed felony child abuse charges against four people who physically separated a man from his son at a local coffee shop last fall.
Madison T. Kline, Adam R. Opsal, Jason B. Fouch, and Danielle M. McMillan are accused of forcefully pulling and prying on a 1-year-old whose father attempted to prevent them from taking the child away at City Brew Coffee on Oct. 8, 2022, according to affidavits of probable cause filed in the case.
Chief Deputy County and Prosecuting Attorney Greg Steward represented the state against the four lawyers who represented their clients: Stephanie Marie Humphrey for Kline, Christina Williams for Opsal, Steven Titus for McMillan and Ryan Semerad for Fouch.
Gillette police officer Brett Nasset, who responded to the incident and completed the affidavit, testified at the hearing that after Klein left town with the child, he asked her to allow the Upton police to do a welfare check, and the Upton officer didn’t observe any physical injury to the child.
Titus said the legislature didn’t define harm in state law and there was no evidence of disfigurement, bruising, burns, fractures or malnutrition, which the law includes as specific examples of harm to a child.
Steward said that the legislature didn’t anticipate five adults would be pulling at a child and that the four individuals recklessly inflicted physical injury.
Circuit Court Judge Wendy Bartlett said that while the incident was “despicable” and four or five individuals showed irresponsible decision-making, the case hinged on whether the child was physically injured, and the state was unable to establish that the group had caused the child physical harm under Wyoming state law. She said the court has to follow the law and the child abuse statute doesn’t include pain. The law doesn’t define “harm,” she said. Merriam-Webster defines the term as “to damage or injure physically or mentally,” and the state couldn’t prove there was physical harm, Barlett said.
Kline, Opsal, Fouch and McMillan hugged after the hearing.
They still face misdemeanors regarding the incident.
According to court records, Kline, after receiving reassurance that she and the father had equal rights to the child without an official custody agreement in place, tried to get the father to meet her in a public place so she could take the child.
Surveillance footage in the coffee shop showed Kline and the father were sitting at a table with the child when Fouch and McMillan arrived and approached the table, the affidavit in Kline’s case file said. Fouch immediately tried to push the father away from Kline as the father grabbed the child and wrapped the child into his arms to protect him from being taken. Opsal came into the building from another entrance and begins helping Kline, McMillan and Fouch take the child from the father’s arms, the footage indicated, according to court records.
The four individuals pulled the father, with the child in his arms, to the ground, and continued to pry and pull at the child to remove him from the father, who attempted to get away from the group, according to the affidavit.
The affidavit said that Fouch put the father into “a headlock type position” and forced him to the ground, and the others pried the father and the crying child apart. McMillan gave the child to Kline, who then left. Fouch and Opsal had a physical altercation with the father, who was ultimately transported to Campbell County Health and treated for injuries to his head, back, hands, and ankle.
Kline and McMillan each face unlawful contact and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment, court records said. Unlawful contact is punishable by imprisonment for up to six months, a fine of up to $750 or both, and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment’s punishable by imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of up to $1,000 or both.
Opsal and Fouch each face battery against the father, false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment, according to court records. Battery is punishable by imprisonment for up to six months, a fine of up to $750 or both. False imprisonment is punishable by imprisonment of up to one year, a fine of up to $1,000 or both.
