Motion to Dismiss Hearing Concludes

A two-day motion to dismiss hearing for a man charged with involuntary manslaughter concluded Friday in Fourth Judicial District Court in Sheridan. Sheridan Media’s Ron Richter has the details.

Shortly after 5 pm Friday, District Court Judge Ben Kirven stated that he would issue a ruling no later than Tuesday, February 4, on the motion to dismiss filed by Defendant Cody McCalla of Sheridan.  McCalla was arrested and charged with the crime of involuntary manslaughter for punching 48-year-old Patrick Mudd in the face, causing traumatic brain injury that resulted in Mudd’s death. McCalla is claiming self defense under Wyoming Statute 6-2-602, which is the state’s stand your ground law that allows a person to use reasonable force, including deadly force, if they feel they are in danger of serious bodily injury or death.  

The first witness to testify Friday was Jennifer Gage, Mudd’s girlfriend who was with him at the time of the alleged crime on July 12, 2024. Gage recounted the day’s events that began with meeting friends and family downtown for the Sneakers and Spurs Run and Rodeo Parade, followed by lunch and a nap at home with Mudd. Gage testified that following dinner with family, she and Mudd headed to the Sheridan County Fairgrounds to meet friends for the rodeo. She said that she was in the process of parallel parking on the north side of West 5th Street shortly before 6 pm when a truck came flying into the spot, hitting its passenger side front tire on the curb.

Gage testified that she had to slam on the brakes and didn’t think that she came into contact with the truck that was being driven by McCalla. Mudd, the passenger in Gage’s SUV, got out and confronted McCalla and Dustin Wheeler, who was the passenger in McCalla’s truck. After a brief interaction, McCalla and Wheeler agreed to let Gage have the parking spot, and they left and found another spot on the same side of 5th street further west. 

Gage said that she was in the car gathering her things for the rodeo and that Mudd was standing outside the SUV anxious to head to the rodeo. Gage testified that she saw McCalla and Wheeler walking on the sidewalk towards her vehicle and she told Mudd that she wanted to wait till they went by so that they didn’t do something to her vehicle. She said that McCalla charged at Mudd and the two began fighting. After a brief scuffle between the two men, McCalla and Wheeler appeared to start making their way back to McCalla’s truck that was parked further west on 5th Street. McCalla was bleeding from the nose and appeared to have gotten the worst of the fight.

Gage said she and Mudd went back to her SUV, where she told Mudd to look for a new shirt, as his shirt was torn and ripped from the fracus. She testified that she was inside her vehicle looking for something to piece her boyfriend’s shirt together, when she saw McCalla charge at Mudd and hit him with a left handed punch to the head/face area. Gage said that Mudd’s body went limp and he fell back and hit his head on the concrete sidewalk.

Law enforcement and EMTs arrived on the scene shortly after 6 pm. Mudd was rushed to the Emergency Room at Sheridan Memorial Hospital and McCalla was placed under arrest and taken into custody.  Gage testified that Mudd was life-flighted to a hospital in Billings, MT shortly after the fight and that she was told by doctors there the next day that there was no hope. Mudd was taken off of life-support the evening of July 14.

Other testimony Friday included the SPD officers who responded to the scene on July 12; the two SPD detectives who investigated the case, and two eyewitnesses to the fight, one of which took pictures of McCalla and Wheeler as they were heading back towards McCalla’s truck after he had knocked Mudd unconscious, and another who called 9-11 and helped move Mudd to a more stable position before EMTs arrived. Once again, District Court Judge Ben Kirven, at the end of the two day evidentiary hearing Friday, said that he would issue a ruling on McCalla’s motion for dismissal no later than Tuesday.

A five-day jury trial remains scheduled to begin on March 3. The charge of involuntary manslaughter is punishable by up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to $10,000.