Death Penalty On The Table In Bow And Arrow Death; Prosecutor Says Man Was 'Impaled'

The elected prosecutor who charged two young Big Piney men Friday with first-degree murder in the apparent death-by-bowshot of a third man hasn’t ruled out the death penalty.

Rowan Littauer, 19, and Orion Schlesinger, 18, were charged Friday with first-degree murder and other felony charges. First-degree murder carries a penalty of life in prison or the death penalty.

Sublette County Attorney Clayton Melinkovich filed the charges on probable-cause evidence that the men worked together to barge into the Big Piney home of Dakota Farley, 23, and fatally shoot him with two compound bow arrows.

When Littauer and Schlesinger appeared by virtual link from the local jail Friday for their initial court hearing in Pinedale Circuit Court, Melinkovich argued that they be held without bond.

The prosecutor said he hasn’t ruled out the death penalty.

“These two men that sit before you on the screen, each is charged with an offense that is punishable by death – and such penalty remains on the table,” said Melinkovich.

At this statement, Littauer raised his eyebrows; his jaw began quivering.

Wyoming doesn’t promise a bond figure for people facing strong evidence in capital offenses, Melinkovich noted.

‘Impaled’

To make his case that he has strong evidence, Melinkovich discussed some of the case allegations in court.

He said the case started because Littauer was talking to friends about killing Farley, and that  “some could even argue he was bragging.”

One of the people to whom Littauer had spoken reported his statements.

Law enforcement agents found Farley’s “lifeless body,” said Melinkovich, “having been impaled by a hunter’s arrow within his own home, exactly where Mr. Littauer said it would be.”

Through more interviews investigators learned Schlesinger was also there when it happened, the prosecutor added.

‘March Over On A Mission’

Though Melinkovich urged Pinedale Circuit Court Judge LaBuda not to give the men a bond figure, he said the judge should set a $1 million bond if he must set one, because the evidence indicates the two men are dangerous.

He said the danger was evident through evidence showing “they would march over on a mission, to accomplish (their) plan, over a mile, in the middle of winter. That they’d then enter that home without that person’s permission, see that person and kill him in his own home.”

The two men also pose a flight risk because they don’t have strong ties to the community, Melinkovich claimed. He said they’d been in Sublette County about a year and a half, were taken into community members’ homes and welcomed into a local school after contending with behavioral issues from “likely a traumatic upbringing.”

Throughout Melinkovich’s bond argument, Schlesinger became tearful. Littauer’s breathing became heavier.

When the prosecutor fell silent, Littauer, who was seated, grabbed his head with both hands and lowered his face to his own knees.

LaBuda set a cash-only bond of $5 million to hold each man in jail.

If anyone is going to post that bond, the parties should have a hearing with the judge about the men’s terms of release at that time, LaBuda added.

The hearing concluded.

Schlesinger remained on the screen for a moment, still tearful.

“Are you OK?” asked a female voice in the room where he sat. 

“No,” he answered, and shook his head.

Court Documents Say…

Littauer is charged with first-degree murder, and with mutilating a dead body. The latter charge is punishable by five years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

Schlesinger faces a first count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, which can be punished with life in prison or the death penalty just like the original murder charge, plus a second count of felony theft, which is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and $10,000 in fines.

An evidentiary affidavit in the case compiled by Sublette County Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Travis Lanning says investigators learned of Farley’s death Wednesday, when someone reported receiving a text from Littauer saying he’d “shot Dakota with a bow and 2 arrows.”

Sublette County Sheriff’s Deputy Ryan Tollison met with Littauer, who admitted he’d “shot a man with a bow and two arrows… in the arm and the head,” and that Schlesinger was with him at the time, the document says.

Littauer also showed deputies on a map application on his cellphone where Farley’s home was, which was also the death scene, Lanning wrote.

Lanning and other deputies and detectives converged on the home and found Farley lying face-down in the living room, the right side of his face pressed against the carpet with dried blood beneath it, says the document.

Lanning noticed eight wounds on Farley’s scalp which looked like BB punctures, but weren’t bloodied, indicating they happened post-mortem, the detective wrote.

Compound Bow

Citing interviews with people familiar with the suspects, the affidavit says the pair were friends and made a plan the evening of Feb. 1 to go to Farley’s home and kill him.

Schlesinger went to Littauer’s home, where Littauer gathered a compound bow, broadhead-tipped arrows, and a BB gun, the affidavit says.

They then walked the 1.4 miles to Farley’s home, it adds.

They entered the home, found Farley standing in his living room, and Littauer shot his compound bow and broadhead-tipped arrows through Farley’s right arm and chest, “resulting in his nearly-instantaneous death,” Lanning wrote.

At some point, Schlesinger “came to possess a purple and grey .22-caliber revolver” Farley had owned, the affidavit says.

Lanning wrote that Littauer was the one who shot eight BBs into Farley’s scalp.

When investigators searched Littauer’s home, they found a compound bow, black arrows, broadhead arrow tips and a BB gun pistol, says the affidavit.

Clair McFarland can be reached at clair@cowboystatedaily.com.