Hedberg Skewered in Court Case
Injunction Demand Thrown Out
More County Money Wasted

by George Gramlich,
News and Commentary
It was pretty big drama in Happy Valley at the County Courthouse Tuesday, October 22, with Jordan “Red Bug” Hedberg’s Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) Injunction case against the Custer County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO) and Sheriff Rich Smith, finally being held in the 11th Judicial District Court. The case was heard before our newly appointed  Custer County 11th Judicial District Judge, Dayna Vise. (Judge Vise did a good job. She looked very comfortable and ran the trial like a seasoned pro.)
As you recall, Hedberg, the owner/editor of the local Wet Mountain Tribune newspaper obtained a TRO against the CCSO/Smith preventing them from seizing any of the Trib’s computers or electronic devices. Hedberg got the TRO after a friend/acquain-tance of his, who was a Custer County employee, had his county computer and personal computers and electronic devices seized by the CCSO in an alleged cyber hacking of Custer County computers, including several in the Sheriff’s Office. (No charges or arrests have been made to date.)
After the seizure, Hedberg, based on a simple email inquiry by Sheriff Smith about whether this county employee was politically associated with Hedberg, got his lawyer to request a TRO from our prior District Judge preventing Smith from seizing the Trib’s computers and cell phones. (Looking at the TRO filing, it is obvious, for multiple reasons, that the prior Judge should not have granted it, but she did.)
In order to defend the case, due to some potential issues with our County Attorney, Smith was forced to hire an outside attorney experienced in this arena. This cost the county $5,000. (Which was a good deal considering the experience of this attorney.) Smith filed a motion to dismiss the TRO and a hearing was set up to try the case. And that was Tuesday.
The case was held in our good old, paid for, court room starting at 2 p.m. I sauntered over about 1:50 p.m., somehow got past security, and entered the sacred chambers. There are two tables before the judge’s throne, Smith was sitting at the one nearest the door with his attorney.
The spectator seating is behind the two tables with a corridor running down the middle. So each table has its own “bleacher” section behind it. The protocol for seating, at least in Happy Valley, is that you sit behind the party you are supporting. Well, when I walked in the whole section behind Smith was already full and there was NOT ONE person in Hedberg’s section. Just Hedberg, Mr. Lonely, sitting at his table, looking straight ahead and ignoring everybody.
Two nice ladies made room for me in Smith’s section and people kept pouring in and jamming into Smith’s bleachers. It got to a point where you could not fit another human being into that section so late comers, regrettably, starting sitting in the back of Red Bug’s section. When the hearing started, there were about 60 or so people there rooting for Sheriff Smith and MAYBE ONE person, sitting behind Hedberg, who might have been a supporter.
Hedberg was alone at his table. Apparently his lawyer, a guy named Ernst, (that’s the same guy that Hedberg used to sue me), could not make it in person so, after some difficulties, came through remotely but with audio only.
So the trial was about Hedberg wanting the TRO turned into a preliminary injunction and Smith wanting the whole thing thrown out.
Right out of the gate, Ernst, asked the Judge for a delay as the case was “complex” and he hadn’t enough time to do his research. The Judge said no. And she did not appear to be too happy about
the request.

Ernst then outlined Hedberg’s case: After the innocuous statement in an email from Smith about Hedberg’s relationship to the alleged hacker, Hedberg, in his mind, Ernst alleges, had a reasonable fear that Smith was going to seize the Trib’s computers as Hedberg was associated with the alleged hacker and Hedberg thought, that Smith thought, that Hedberg had stolen data on the Trib’s machines.
Ernst then went on and on about the federal and state laws protecting the media and journalists from divulging their “confidential sources” and that any seizure of Hedberg’s stuff would violate those laws. Ernst then talked about how using a subpoena would be better than a search warrant as it would let Hedberg protect his sources better.

Not too far into Ernst’s spiel, Judge Vise interrupted and stated she was “perplexed” about this case as there was really “no issue before the court” and that Hedberg’s request was an “anticipatory action”. She noted if the injunction was granted it would prohibit the court from issuing a valid search warrant. Ernst blah blahed some more trying to defend his position and then it was the turn for Smith’s attorney, Mr. Tameler, from Pueblo.

Tameler took issue with the subpoena point that Ernst had brought up as it was not in the original pleading. He also said that there was not “imminent threat of search and seizure” He went on to say in Custer County, the Sheriff must get the ok from the District Attorney AND the District Judge before a search warrant can be issued. So there are two solid layers of protection for citizens. Tameler also noted that Hedberg didn’t post a bond when getting the TRO which is a requirement and that there were “no grounds” to get a TRO and it was a “spurious action”. Based on that alone, Tameler argued, the Judge should throw the case out.

The Judge then talked a bit about these issues and Ernst again whined that he hadn’t had enough time to properly research the case. The Judge then admonished Ernst saying he had plenty of time.

Hedberg then took the stand to testify. He said he had sent Smith an email about an “investigation” he was doing on the CCSO regarding some people they were using in the cyber hacking case and that in a return email from Smith about that, he was surprised that Smith had asked him about his relationship with the county employee whose computers were seized. Hedberg said he had a “lot of sources that need to be protected…”.

When asked when he had heard about the alleged cyber hacking and who it was, Hedberg revealed that he had “read it in the Sangre de Cristo Sentinel”. (That appears to be untrue. In the Sentinel’s original article on it, we did NOT name the alleged perpetrator. We only said it was a county employee. The first PUBLIC disclosure of the name was in Hedberg’s TRO filing to the court (which is a public document). Based on the filing, the Sentinel named the alleged perp the week following. So Hedberg did NOT learn the name from the Sentinel. So his statement in court was apparently false.)

Trying to justify the shaky request to the court for a TRO against the CCSO, Hedberg alluded to an incident that happened in Ohio last year (or the year before). Some small county in Ohio had a rogue sheriff and he had it in for the local, old, two bit newspaper. He invented some bogus reason and got a search warrant and seized the newspaper’s computers, cell phones, etc. The old guy who ran the paper (he was real old) got stressed out and had a heart attack and died the next day. Hedberg tried to use this one in a million episode to justify his rather dubious request for a TRO. (It was pathetic. In today’s world, if law enforcement is going to grab a newspaper’s computers, they better have an absolute solid case.) In the end, the Ohio sheriff was fired and arrested.

Again, reflecting on Hedberg’s mindset in getting the TRO, Smith’s submitted response to the court filed on October 11, 2024 destroyed Hedberg’s arguments on multiple fronts. Most telling perhaps was Section 14 of Smith’s response, “The factual predicate set forth in the petition is entirely speculative, bordering on paranoid.”
Smith’s lawyer, Tameler, then asked Hedberg some interesting questions including: Did Sheriff Smith ever say he was going to search your newspaper? No. Did Sheriff Smith ask you any questions about your newspaper? No. Also, “Did the Sheriff make any threat against your newspaper in the email?” Hedberg answered, “It was implied.” Tameler then talked about Hedberg being a political person in the county re Hedberg currently running for a Custer County Commissioner slot.

Ernst then asked Hedberg if he would cooperate with the Sheriff
in an investigation “so you wouldn’t compromise your sources?” Hedberg, of course, answered yes. (What a responsible journalist would have done if he suspected that his newspaper would be involved in an investigation would be to immediately go to the Sheriff and offer to help in any way except for source disclosure. This Hedberg did NOT do. Instead, he prematurely threw up a roadblock for the Sheriff. With the TRO.)

Sheriff Smith then testified. He reviewed the multi-step process for getting a search warrant. Ernst then stated that there are federal and state protections for newspapers re sources. (Smith’s attorney later pointed out that there are criminal activity exceptions in those statutes.)
In Closing Arguments, Tameler reviewed all the defects in Hedberg’s original TRO filing pretty much saying that the whole thing was bogus based on the facts of the case and the law. Ernst gave a pretty poor Closing Argument.

Judge Vise then gave her decision. She said since there was no “underlying complaint” filed for this TRO, and that is a requisite to get one (a TRO), thus, the court has “no jurisdiction” over the matter and the case will be dismissed. She said TRO’s should be issued “with caution” and must show “immediate and irreparable damage” which this did not do. (She was being diplomatic here. It was a bogus TRO requested by a guy who panicked over an innocuous statement by the Sheriff. The TRO should never have been issued.)

Smith’s lawyer asked the Judge to have Hedberg pay for the County’s legal expenses but she declined. (They rarely do this but you gotta try). So Hedberg again cost the county a bunch of money ($5,000 plus all the time of the players) via what appears to be a bogus legal attack. Not to mention all the cost and grief he has caused other county employees, elected officials, and citizens over the last few years with his law fare antics and various media aggressions . When is it going to end, folks?