Justia Wyoming Supreme Court Opinion Summaries

Pursuant to a plea agreement, Defendant Steve Edward Dobbins pled no contest to one count of sexual assault in the first degree. In this consolidated appeal, Defendant contended that the district court should have permitted him to withdraw his plea, both before and after sentencing. Specifically, he complained that he should have been allowed to withdraw his plea of no contest prior to being sentenced because he did not have close assistance of counsel and that he had a fair and just reason to withdraw his plea. Furthermore, Defendant argued that he should have been allowed to withdraw his plea of no contest after sentencing because the district court failed to properly advise him as required by W.R.Cr.P. 11, resulting in manifest injustice. Upon review, the Supreme Court affirmed the denial of both of Defendant's motions to withdraw his no contest plea, and affirmed the judgment and sentence. View "Dobbins v. Wyoming" on Justia Law

Defendant-Appellant Gary Carter was tried and convicted by a jury of a single felony charge of possessing, with intent to deliver, two grams of methamphetamine. The court sentenced Defendant to twelve to fifteen years in the Wyoming State Penitentiary. On appeal, Defendant contended that plain error occurred when the prosecutor elicited expert witness testimony that Defendant was guilty of being a drug dealer. Furthermore, Defendant alleged that the prosecutor committed misconduct when arguing facts not in evidence during closing argument. Upon review of the record, the Supreme Court concluded that when considered in conjunction with the expert witness testimony, the "troublesome comments" made during closing presented a reasonable probability that Defendant's right to a fair trial was affected: "[t]he information, while subtle, came directly from the prosecutor and did more than insinuate." The Court remanded the case for a new trial. View "Carter v. Wyoming" on Justia Law

Defendant-Appellant Donald Inman appealed his aggravated assault and battery conviction. Defendant did not deny that he assaulted the victim, but claimed he acted in defense of himself and his family. On appeal, Defendant asserted the district court erred in allowing a detective to provide lay opinion testimony as to the location of the assault. He also asserted the district court erred in denying his motions for judgment of acquittal, arguing that the victim’s testimony was contradictory and so inherently unreliable that a reasonable juror could not have accepted the victim’s version of events and rejected Inman’s claim of self defense. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded the district court did not abuse its discretion in allowing the opinion testimony, and it properly denied Defendant's motions for judgment of acquittal. View "Inman v. Wyoming" on Justia Law

Appellant Connie Powell worked as a bookkeeper for Rocky Mountain Pump Services (RMPS) from March 2005 to February 2007, when her employment was terminated. After terminating appellant's employment, RMPS contracted with Melanie Field to handle the company's books until another bookkeeper could be hired. Field immediately found the books to be incomplete, inaccurate, and in need of "rebuilding." Reconstruction of the books back to the time when Appellant was hired, revealed numerous discrepancies and missing records, with multiple paychecks to Appellant for the same pay period, copies of checks made payable to the appellant where the computer QuickBooks system showed those checks being paid to vendors, and a few checks made payable to Appellant where the issuing manager's signature appeared to be forged. The examination of the books was followed by a law enforcement investigation that included a review of Appellant's personal bank account records. Eventually, it was determined that 93 checks, totaling $78,200, and claimed to be "unauthorized" by RMPS, had been deposited into Appellant's personal account during her tenure as RMPS's bookkeeper. Appellant was arrested and charged with one count of felony larceny. A jury found her guilty. She appealed her conviction. Because there was insufficient evidence to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that Appellant committed larceny, the Supreme Court reversed her conviction. View "Powell v. Wyoming" on Justia Law

A jury found Julie Ann Jacobsen guilty of ten felony counts involving forgery and larceny. She appealed the convictions, claiming her trial counsel was ineffective. She also asks this Court to allow her to supplement the trial record in order to prove her ineffective assistance claim. Upon review of the trial court record, the Supreme Court declined Ms. Jacobsen’s request to supplement the record and affirmed her convictions. View "Jacobsen v. Wyoming" on Justia Law

Appellant Jerele Craig Cothren, Jr., was facing four separate sentences from three courts for unrelated crimes. The most recent sentence, and the one upon which this appeal was based, required that Appellant serve his term of incarceration concurrent with a sentence for which he was then presently incarcerated, as well as consecutive to a probationary period that had yet to begin. Because it was impossible to meet both these requirements, and because the sentence as pronounced would require the period of incarceration to be interrupted by a period of probation, the Supreme Court concluded Appellant's sentence was illegal. Appellant's case was remanded to the district court for resentencing. View "Cothren v. Wyoming" on Justia Law

After stopping Patrick R. Espinoza for failing to maintain a single lane of travel while driving on Interstate 80 (I-80) in Laramie, an Albany County Sheriff's deputy arrested Mr. Espinoza for driving while under the influence of alcohol. The Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) suspended Mr. Espinoza's driver's license, and he objected. At the contested case hearing, Mr. Espinoza claimed the deputy was not justified in stopping him. The Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) upheld the suspension, and the district court affirmed. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded the deputy had probable cause to stop Mr. Espinoza for the traffic violation and affirmed. View "Espinoza v. Dept. of Transp." on Justia Law

Defendant Kevin Kidwell challenged his convictions for false imprisonment and simple assault. He claims the prosecutor committed misconduct by failing to give prior notice of evidence suggesting he had attempted to persuade a witness to testify falsely in his favor at trial in violation of W.R.E. 404(b). Defendant was charged with kidnapping and aggravated assault and battery after a 2010 incident where Defendant and his girlfriend got into an altercation. The girlfriend was admitted to the hospital with bruises and other symptoms from having been choked. The defense listed Andrew Scott as a witness. Scott had been Defendant's former cellmate while incarcerated, and reported on another altercation between Defendant and his girlfriend in which the girlfriend had been the aggressor. Although he had been listed as a defense witness, the prosecution called Scott to the stand and had him recount his original plan to testify in Defendant's favor and his subsequent change of heart. Defendant did not object to the State calling Scott as a witness nor Scott's story. A jury eventually returned a verdict "decidedly favorable" to Defendant: they acquitted him on the kidnapping and aggravated assault and battery charges, and the lesser included offense of felonious restraint. They convicted him however, of the lesser included misdemeanor, false imprisonment. The appeal came before the Supreme Court on an unusual procedural stance: although Defendant claimed the evidence of Scott's plan to testify falsely was "other bad acts" evidence and governed by W.R.E. 404(b), he did not specifically challenge the admissibility of the evidence or analyze it under the relevant factors. Instead, Defendant maintained that the prosecutor committed misconduct by failing to give Defendant notice of Scott's testimony. Finding that Defendant failed to demonstrate a clear violation of law or any prejudice, the Supreme Court affirmed his convictions. View "Kidwell v. Wyoming" on Justia Law

Defendant Michael Patterson challenged the sentence he was serving on his conviction as an accessory to second degree murder. Defendant was sentenced to a mandatory twenty-year term for his crime. Less than a month later, the State filed a “Motion for Correction of Sentence” in the case. The motion cited Wyo. Stat. Ann. 7-13-201, which requires that the minimum sentence be no greater than 90% of the maximum. The State asked to change the original sentence of 20-22 years to a sentence of 240-267 months, adding three months to the maximum sentence. The district court granted the motion the day after it was filed, and imposed a new sentence of 240-267 months. A year and a half later, Defendant filed a pro se Motion to Correct Illegal Sentence. He contended that a sentence of 20-22 years was illegal because it violated the requirement of Wyo. Stat. Ann. 7-13-201 that the minimum be no more than 90% of the maximum. He asserted that his sentence could not be legally increased after he had begun serving it, and proposed a new sentence of 19-22 years. Four months later, Defendant filed an Amended Motion to Correct Illegal Sentence. All of the previous post-sentencing pleadings filed by or on behalf of Defendant had recited that his sentence was 20-22 years. This amended motion was the first to recognize that his sentence had been increased to 240-267 months. Defendant argued that the increase in his sentence violated his rights against double jeopardy, and further, violated his rights to due process because the sentence was increased without notice to him and without an opportunity for a hearing. The Public Defender’s Office was appointed to represent Defendant, and it filed a supplemental motion and brief on his behalf. After a hearing, the district court set aside the previous order increasing Defendant's sentence from 20-22 years to 240-267 months, and reinstated the original sentence of 20-22 years. The district court acknowledged that this original sentence was technically illegal because the minimum exceeded 90% of the maximum. It noted, however, that the minimum sentence was only "90.09 percent rather than 90 or less" of the maximum sentence. The district court characterized this as a "small deviation," and concluded that "the original sentence was not illegal because it substantially complied" with the statute. Defendant appealed the district court's order. Upon review, the Supreme Court concluded that Defendant's original sentence was illegal and must be set aside. The Court concluded that the reinstituted sentence of 20-22 years was also illegal, and set that sentence aside too. The case was remanded for resentencing. View "Patterson v. Wyoming" on Justia Law

Appellant Kristen Spreeman was convicted of felony driving while under the influence (DWUI) in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. 31-5-233(b)(iii)(A) and (e). Appellant appealed, claiming that she did not have three prior qualifying convictions as required by section 31-5-233(e) to enhance her DWUI conviction to a felony. Specifically, Appellant contended that driving while "visibly impaired" under Mich. Comp. Laws 257.625(3) did not constitute an "other law prohibiting driving while under the influence" under section 31-5-233(e). The Supreme Court affirmed the conviction, holding (1) Wyoming's enhancement provision does not restrict qualifying convictions to offenses that arise from violations of laws that are identical, or even substantially similar, to Wyoming's definition of driving while under the influence; and (2) therefore, Appellant's Michigan conviction for driving while visibly impaired may be used to enhance the current conviction to a felony. View "Spreeman v. State" on Justia Law