Laramie bathroom-law protester faces felony assault charge, claims self-defense

Outside the Crowbar & Grill on a September night in Laramie, a confrontation that began with words ended with a firearm, and Rihanna Kelver is now facing felony charges in Albany County.

The 26-year-old Laramie resident, who became a public figure in Wyoming’s bathroom-law fight after using the women’s restroom at the Capitol on July 1, 2025, is charged with aggravated assault, possession of a deadly weapon with unlawful intent and interference with a peace officer. Albany County Circuit Court Judge Robert Sanford found probable cause on May 27 and sent the case to district court, where Judge Misha Westby is now overseeing it.

Court documents described a verbal clash outside the downtown bar that escalated after Kelver approached a man. The man shoved Kelver to the ground, and investigators say Kelver then pulled a firearm, chambered a round and pointed the pistol at him. Kelver and defense attorney Andrew Holcomb are expected to argue that the response was justified under Wyoming’s self-defense law, which hinges on whether force was reasonably necessary to meet an actual or reasonably perceived threat.

The case comes into court against the backdrop of House Bill 72, Wyoming’s bathroom law covering sex-designated restrooms, showers, sleeping quarters and locker rooms in public facilities. The law took effect on July 1, 2025, the same day Kelver staged the protest at the Wyoming Capitol in Cheyenne. Wyoming Public Media reported that Kelver said the demonstration was meant to call attention to lawmakers’ “fear and hurt,” while the Wyoming Freedom Caucus immediately attacked the protest online and accused Governor Mark Gordon of allowing the law to be violated.

The earlier protest and the later criminal case have kept Kelver in the middle of a state political fight that now intersects with felony court. Reports identify the man involved in the Laramie encounter as Scott Durham, and other accounts say he shouted homophobic and transphobic slurs before the physical confrontation. Democratic U.S. Senate candidate James Byrd has also framed the case as a due-process and Second Amendment issue.

For Albany County, the central issue now is not the Capitol protest. It is whether the downtown Laramie encounter meets the felony standard and how a district judge will weigh Kelver’s self-defense claim after a gun was allegedly drawn, loaded and pointed during a street-level dispute.