Man Accused In Big Piney Ambush Says He Had No Idea Friend Was About To Be Killed

A Big Piney man accused of plotting the compound bow-shot death of his 23-year-old friend around Feb. 1 told a judge that he had no idea the alleged murder was about to unfold as he walked to his friend’s house that frigid night. 

Orion Schlesinger, 19, also wrote that he blames himself for not intervening, but he also had “fears of being next.” 

Schlesinger faces one count of conspiracy to commit first-degree murder. 

Schlesinger’s co-defendant Rowan Littauer, also 19 at this juncture though he’ll turn 20 this year, faces one count of first-degree murder.

Both face life in prison if convicted. 

Court documents say Littauer and Schlesinger made a plan the night of Feb. 1, to kill Dakota Farley, 23, who lived in Big Piney.

They walked more than a mile to Farley’s home, entered through the door, and Littauer shot Farley through the arm and chest with an arrow as Farley emerged from a back room in his home, according to court testimony given in the case. 

The arrow went through Farley’s arm, through his aorta and into his trachea, killing him, according to a summary of the autopsy that Sublette County Sheriff’s Detective Sgt. Travis Lanning gave in court March 11.

When Farley fell to the floor, Littauer shot him a second time in the head, according to Lanning’s breakdown of Littauer’s interview with law enforcement.

Dear Judge McKay

Schlesinger on Sept. 4 filed a handwritten letter in his case in Sublette County District Court, to Judge Kate McKay. 

He wrote that he was grateful for having had time to look at his own actions. He called Littauer ahead of the incident for help with suicidal ideations, “and had no knowledge of Rowan’s intentions,” Schlesinger wrote. 

“I also believe my mind was too clouded to properly function, let alone mastermind my friends (sic) death,” the letter says. “I do blame Rowan for that night but am angry I did not at least run away for help.”

The letter says Schlesinger had “fears of being next,” which overwhelmed him, as his addictions also clouded his judgment.

“My decision to not get help with those addictions weighs heavily on me, as I’ve acknowledged my addictions previously to that evening,” he wrote. “I would like a chance to grow, be better, and live as productively as possible. I also want to be a better Father for my son.”

Schlesinger wrote that apologizing would never be enough. 

“But, I do not believe I deserve life in prison as my Faults are not the reasons for Dakota’s death,” says the letter, adding, “but my decisions and Fears did play a part in (not) preventing that evening.” 

Schlesinger’s letter says he’s still terrified of what happened and what “will happen,” and says, “I feel I should’ve risked my own life to save Dakota’s life.” 

The Defendant Is Reminded…

It’s not proper for judges to communicate outside of court with defendants who are represented by counsel, McKay countered in an order that same day. 

Schlesinger is represented by Assistant Public Defender Rachel Weksler. 

McKay said she won’t consider any filings Schlesinger makes on his own, as the rules dictating judicial conduct forbid her from doing so. 

“The Defendant is reminded of his constitutional right to remain silent,” the judge concluded. 

And, A Filing

Weksler on Sept. 8 filed a notice on Schlesinger’s behalf, telling the court the defense has designated Dr. Max Wachtel of Denver to conduct the second mental health evaluation on whether Schlesinger was mentally competent the night of the killing. 

Wyoming law has a provision by which juries can acquit a person who, due to a grossly impairing condition, was mentally unfit to rationalize his conduct or conform it to the law during the act of a crime. 

Trials that explore this provision lean on mental health evaluators’ testimonies. 

State law requires an initial evaluation and allows for the defense to seek a second evaluation after that. 

Both Littauer and Schlesinger have pleaded “not guilty by reason of mental illness” and both have been in the mental health evaluation phase of their prosecutions for months. 

They’re set for trial Nov. 17. 

More Background

After the shooting, Littauer boasted to a friend via text message that the world now contained “one less pedophile,” according to Lanning’s March testimony.

Sublette County Attorney Clayton Melinkovich pushed back on the characterization, asking Lanning to discuss Sublette County Sheriff’s Office investigations into whether Farley had been inappropriate with any children.

Lanning said as far as he knew, Farley hadn’t targeted any children. Schlesinger’s girlfriend, a minor female identified by the initials “EK,” told investigators after the shooting that Farley had “creeped her out” but didn’t touch her.

Schlesinger and his girlfriend would spend time at Farley’s house, while the men played games, according to court testimony.

The Bind Over

Melinkovich conceded at the March hearing that in Wyoming, a person isn’t automatically a murder co-conspirator just because he was at an alleged murder scene.

But he theorized that Schlesinger did more than join Littauer on the mile-plus walk to Farley’s home that frigid night. The prosecutor said Schlesinger was part of an “agreement” made beforehand to kill Farley.

Melinkovich pointed to the testimony that it was Schlesinger’s girlfriend who was “creeped out” by Farley, and that Schlesinger had told her they were going to kill Farley.

After Schlesinger returned home from Farley’s home that night, he showed his girlfriend a pistol he’d allegedly stolen from there, Melinkovich added.

Weksler countered, saying the case is “fraught with questions that will have to be answered as we have access to more information, and will be fleshed out as we proceed in the matter.”

‘Forced Into A Situation’

Schlesinger in an undated letter filed in Sublette County Circuit Court Judge John LaBuda’s court Feb. 20 pleaded with the judge to release him in time for his child’s scheduled birth of March 17.

“If I could prove to you, the state and its (sic) people that I was forced into a situation by Rowan I will,” wrote Schlesinger. “I would not (have done) anything to take me away from my family without my own life being threatened. I pray the evidence is found to show I was forced. I pray that I may testify against the man who threatened my life so I may raise my son to be a good man.”

Lanning acknowledged in court that Schlesinger had said something during the course of the investigation, about Littauer threatening him.

The Low Bar

Littauer’s defense attorney Elisabeth Trefonas challenged Lanning’s testimony at her client’s March hearing.

Lanning had testified that the case started Feb. 5, when an 18-year-old woman showed a Big Piney high school counselor text messages from “Rowan,” in which the man said he’d committed a felony and rid the world of a “pedophile.”

Trefonas pointed to how random the conversation was – launching cold after an unrelated discussion about seeing a chiropractor – and questioned whether the detective was sure Rowan Littauer had actually texted those words.

The detective couldn’t be sure but had seen the same text conversation on Littauer’s phone, he answered.

Trefonas noted Littauer told investigators he felt “peer pressure” toward killing Farley, and she questioned whether Schlesinger could have been the source of that pressure.

LaBuda also sent Schlesinger's charge of felony theft, and Littauer's charge of mutilation of a dead body to the higher court. Those charges stem from the claims that Schlesinger stole Farley's gun, and Littauer riddled Farley's scalp with BBs from a BB pistol after the man was already dead on his own floor. 

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