Last week I posted about a challenge to Wyoming's marriage law brought by David Shupe-Roderick and Ryan W. Dupree of Cheyenne.
The AP reported: "They're asking U.S. District Judge Alan B. Johnson to stop the state from enforcing any laws that block gays and lesbians from access to civil marriage. Wyoming Attorney General Bruce Salzburg declined comment Tuesday, saying he hadn't reviewed the lawsuit yet. Shupe-Roderick and Dupree are acting as their own attorneys in the case."
However, LezGetReal reports that the couple behind the case have quite a past:
Shupe-Roderick, 25, served 4 years in the Wyoming State Penitentiary after he, his brother, and their two girlfriends left Cheyenne in a rental car in January 2004. When they didn't return the rental car on time, the rental company contacted police. Two days later, Shupe-Roderick – then known as Gerald Shupe — was arrested in Arkansas after being pulled over for an illegal lane change.
After being sentenced, Shupe-Roderick unsuccessfully requested a reduction in his prison sentence on the grounds that he had been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and wasn't taking his prescribed medication when he took the rental car.
Lezgetreal has been contacted by parties close to source as well as information from local authorities and now received further verification through the investigation of other media outlets.
Gerald David Shupe-Roderick, aka Gerald Shupe, now asking to be called David- is currently being prosecuted for falsifying state documents. Last October, he applied to become a notary public, and he allegedly certified on his application form that he wasn't a convicted felon.
The lawsuit also alleges Shupe-Roderick used a fake same-sex union certificate from Massachusetts to obtain a Wyoming driver's license.
That seems to be the tip of the iceberg.
According to the Billings Gazette: [Shupe Roderick has] filed five other lawsuits in the past three years. In one, he accused prison guards of sexual misconduct, and in another, he accused a would-be business client of assault and breach of contract. He has also sought $16,398 in loans and debts from his former employers/roommates and asserted that Bank of America unlawfully refused to release $5,107 from his bank account. All of those cases were eventually dropped or dismissed.”