From the Albany County Sheriff’s Office:

The Albany County Sheriff’s Office and Albany County Commissioners are hereby releasing the Confidential Global Settlement Agreement and Release of All Claims relating to the 2018 death of Laramie resident Robbie Ramirez, and an unredacted copy of the same was posted January 19th on the Albany County Sheriff’s Facebook page, just click this link (no facebook account or sign in is needed)

Mr. Ramirez was killed in an officer involved shooting in Laramie, Albany County, Wyoming on November 4, 2018. Actions pertaining to Mr. Ramirez’s death were filed in the Second Judicial District in Albany County, Wyoming (Probate No. 7290 and Civil Action No. 35089) and in the United States District Court, District of Wyoming (Civil No. 20-CV-166). The Confidential Global Settlement Agreement and Release of All Claims (“Settlement Agreement”) was subsequently entered into and agreed upon by all parties in June of 2022.

In August of 2023 the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled, in Gates v. Memorial Hospital of Converse County (533 P.3d 493 (Wyo. 2023)), that settlement agreements are contracts involving public funds and are official public records subject to release under the Wyoming Public Records Act. After the Gates decision, Albany County sought clarification from the courts as to which parts of the Settlement Agreement could then be released to the public without incurring further liability. Upon receiving no clarification, Albany County is releasing the Settlement Agreement, in its entirety and without redaction, to the public in accordance with the decision in Gates.

The Settlement Agreement’s payment of $1,200,000.00 to the Estate of Mr. Ramirez was made in 2022 and included, among other things, no admissions of liability or wrongdoing by any party, the Albany County Sheriff’s Office’s agreement to use reasonable efforts to continue its crisis intervention training for deputies, the parties’ agreement there was no legal basis for evidence tampering, and that payment pursuant to the Settlement Agreement would be made upon the U.S. District Court’s issuance of an order denying Plaintiff’s Motion for Default Judgment.

With this release of the Settlement Agreement, Albany County has complied with the Wyoming Supreme Court’s decision in Gates.