Adams County rancher shooting investigation in Idaho AG’s hands

Idaho State Police on Thursday turned over to the Idaho Attorney General’s Office the results of its investigation into the officer-involved shooting Nov. 1, 2015, in Adams County.

The shooting occurred after Adams County sheriff’s deputies responded to a vehicle crash on U.S. 95 involving a bull owned by Council resident Jack Yantis. Yantis, 62, was fatally shot by two deputies, Brian S. Wood and Cody W. Roland, on the highway near the Yantis ranch. Until now, state and Adams County law enforcement officials have told the public little other than that weapons were fired.

ISP detectives have interviewed more 40 people and sent nearly 30 pieces of evidence to labs for examination. The Attorney General’s Office would not say whether the evidence included body-camera or dash-camera video of the shooting.

“We just got the case this afternoon. ... At this point we cannot comment on what we have and what we do not have for evidence,” said spokesman Todd Dvorak.

The office’s special prosecutions unit will review the case and determine if the shooting was justified or if criminal charges, such as voluntary or involuntary manslaughter, are warranted against either of the deputies. Dvorak said officials do not know how long that will take.

“We recognize this is an important case that has a lot of public interest,” Dvorak said. “We will only get one chance at this, so we want to be thorough and do our jobs diligently.”

The U.S. Attorney’s Office is conducting its own inquiry into the shooting for any civil rights violations, including possible excessive use of force.

“We anticipate we will be wrapping up soon on the federal side as well,” said Wendy J. Olson, the U.S. attorney for Idaho.

Olson said she expects to decide “relatively soon.”

This story was originally published March 10, 2016 at 5:42 PM with the headline "Adams County rancher shooting investigation in Idaho AG’s hands."