The Rawlins-based judge who concluded the state of Wyoming could take $54,226 from a retired Wamsutter trucker on claims the money was part of a drug conspiracy let the state have it too easy in court, the Wyoming Supreme Court ruled Tuesday.

Ronald Mickulin, 76, pleaded guilty last February in Rawlins Circuit Court to possessing a misdemeanor amount of cocaine. He was sentenced to 20 days in jail plus a year of probation and ordered to pay a $250 fine and other court costs and fees.

But in the course of a Rawlins traffic stop on Oct. 22, 2023, where his rear taillights weren’t operational, a subsequent warrant search and his arrest, police found $54,226 in Mickulin’s Honda Civic, according to court documents.

The state called the sum drug money and asked Carbon County District Judge Da

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