Appeals court sides with Kansas State Fair on a disqualified lamb from the 2016 event

A battle over the disqualification of the winning market lamb during the 2016 Kansas State Fair has come full circle.

The Kansas Court of Appeals on Friday reversed a 2019 Reno County District Judge’s decision that had reversed a decision by the Kansas State Fair Board.

The board almost six years ago disqualified the grand champion market lamb, stripped its owner, Gabryelle Gilliam, then of Washington County, of her grand champion title and canceled her $4,000 in winnings.

The action came after a veterinarian examining the animal’s carcass observed multiple injection marks on the back of both its hind legs, evident from swelling and bruising.

There was no evidence of drugs detected in the animal, but a committee of the Fair Board determined the injection sites were evidence of "unethical fitting” or unfairly attempting to change the animal's natural appearance for the competition.

Gilliam’s father denied before a fair board committee they had injected the lamb, suggesting a competitor who had access to the lamb after it won "might have been involved in nefarious conduct,” details in this week’s ruling noted.

More:Washington girl fights to keep her grand champion market lamb title amid allegations

However, in a subsequent hearing, Gilliam admitted to injecting vitamin B-12 before the competition, though denying attempts at fitting.

Gilliam appealed the fair’s ruling to District Court, and Reno County District Judge Trish Rose, in September 2019, agreed with arguments by Gilliam’s attorney, reinstating her title and prizes.

In her ruling, Rose found that, while the state fair did provide some evidence of potential rule violations, the level of evidence was “insufficient to meet its burden.”

Rose also agreed with Gilliam’s attorney, Christopher A. McElgunn, of Wichita, that the language of the fair’s rules indicated a veterinarian had to a make a finding the rules were violated, not the fair board.

In its decision, the appellate court found Rose, focusing on a single paragraph, “erroneously interpreted the 2016 State Fair rules and employed an incorrect standard when it reviewed Gilliam's case."

“Admittedly, the 2016 State Fair rules are not a model of drafting clarity,” the court wrote, and “contain numerous statements that could be confusing if taken out of context.”

More:Judge overturns fair's disqualification of 2016 champion lamb

However, it also found the rules “unequivocally prohibit the ‘showing of unethically fitted livestock,’” and that fair participants agree to follow those rules, which "reiterate in multiple sections that the Board is the fair's governing body and ultimate decision-maker."

“In short, in light of the record as a whole, the (Fair) Board's decision was supported by substantial evidence,” the appellate court found, issuing its reversal.

Kansas State Fair General Manager Bryan Schulz said Tuesday that a lot has changed in the rules since 2016, but that based on the court’s comments, staff will be working with the fair’s livestock committee to review the language.

The Kansas Attorney General’s Office has represented the fair throughout the case, so he had no idea of the legal costs, Schulz said.

The News was unable to reach the lamb’s owner to see if she planned to appeal to the state's high court.