Justia Constitutional Law Opinion Summaries

In April 2011, Appellant was arrested for driving under the influence of alcohol (DUI) and pleaded guilty to DUI. The Wyoming Department of Transportation (WYDOT) did not notify Appellant until August 2012 that he would be disqualified from using his commercial driver’s license for one year and that his driver’s license would be suspended for ninety days. The Office of Administrative Hearings (OAH) upheld the suspension and disqualification. Appellant filed a petition for judicial review, challenging the proceedings instituted nearly a year and a half after his DUI conviction. The district court affirmed the OAH decisions. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the administrative proceedings were promptly instituted as required by Wyo. Stat. Ann. 16-3-113; and (2) Appellant did not establish that the delay deprived him of procedural due process. View "Dubbelde v. State ex. rel. Dep't of Transp." on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of three counts of second-degree sexual assault. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) Defendant was not denied his right to a speedy trial; (2) the district court properly admitted forensic interview evidence as a prior consistent statement; (3) the bill of particulars was sufficient for Defendant to adequately prepare a defense; (4) the circuit court committed harmless error when it granted an ex parte motion quashing Defendant’s subpoena to call the victim and her mother as witnesses at a preliminary hearing; (5) the district court did not abuse its discretion when it denied admission of sexualized behavior evidence on relevancy and hearsay grounds; and (6) the State did not commit prosecutorial misconduct when it referenced a non-religious quote from a church sign in its opening statement. View "Ortiz v. State" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Appellant, an inmate at the Wyoming State Penitentiary, was convicted of two counts of conspiracy to deliver a controlled substance and two counts of conspiracy to take a controlled substance into a state penal institution. The Supreme affirmed the convictions, holding (1) there was no violation of Defendant’s right to a speedy trial, where the time between Defendant’s arraignment and trial was 201 days, as the delay was part of the due administration of justice and thus did not violate Wyo. R. Crim. P. 48; and (2) the district court did not abuse its discretion when it denied Appellant’s motion to continue. View "Vargas v. State" on Justia Law

In 1993, Appellant pled guilty to a second degree sexual assault crime in New Jersey. Appellant later moved to Wyoming. In 2012, the State charged Appellant with failing to register in violation of Wyo. Stat. Ann. 7-19-302(j) and 7-19-307(a)(d). After a trial, Appellant was convicted of the charge. Appellant appealed, contending that Wyoming’s Sex Offender Registration Act violates the prohibitions against ex post facto laws contained in the state and federal Constitutions. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the Act does not violate the ex post facto clause of the United States Constitution because the Act imposes only a regulatory burden on convicted sex offenders; and (2) there was no merit in Appellant’s claim that the Wyoming Constitution provides greater protection against ex post facto laws than its federal counterpart. View "Kammerer v. State" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Appellant was convicted of driving with a blood alcohol concentration (BAC) of at least 0.08% for a fourth or subsequent time in ten years, a felony. On appeal, Appellant argued that the district court erred in denying his motion to suppress the results of his BAC test, claiming that the affidavit supporting the search warrant authorizing his blood to be taken for testing was deficient because it failed to demonstrate probable cause. The Supreme Court reversed, holding that the search warrant affidavit did not provide sufficient information for a judicial officer to make an independent judgment that there was probable cause to issue the warrant, and therefore, the BAC test - the fruit of the search - should have been suppressed. View "Snell v. State" on Justia Law

The Wyoming Department of Revenue (Department) directed Appellants, on-line travel companies (OTCs), to collect and remit taxes on the total amounts they collected from customers booking hotel rooms in Wyoming. The State Board of Equalization (SBOE) upheld the order. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding (1) the SBOE did not err in finding that the full amount paid by a customer to the OTCs for a reservation of a hotel room in Wyoming was taxable to the Department; (2) the Department’s imposition of sales tax on the full amount collected by the OTCs did not violate the Dormant Commerce Clause, the Equal Protection Clause, or the Due Process Clause of the United States Constitution as applied to the OTCs; and (3) the imposition of the sales tax did not violate the federal Internet Tax Freedom Act. View "Travelocity.com LP v. Wyo. Dep't of Revenue" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Defendant was found guilty of one count of felony child abuse. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the district court (1) did not violate Defendant’s right to confrontation by allegedly limiting the cross-examination of the victim regarding inappropriate sexual contact between the victim and his sister because the district court did not make a ruling on the issue; and (2) did not abuse its discretion by not granting Defendant’s motion for judgment of acquittal because there was sufficient evidence such that a jury could return a guilty verdict. View "Swan v. State" on Justia Law

After a jury trial, Appellant was convicted of aggravated assault by threatening to use a drawn deadly weapon. On appeal, Appellant argued, among other things, that his trial counsel provided ineffective assistance for failing to call an expert witness. The Supreme Court reversed and remanded for a new trial, holding (1) there was sufficient evidence to support the jury’s verdict; (2) Appellant did not receive constitutionally effective counsel, and, under the circumstances, a reasonable probability existed that, but for trial counsel’s deficient performance, the outcome would have been different; and (3) the jury was improperly instructed on self defense. View "Cooper v. State" on Justia Law

After a trial, Defendant was convicted of six counts of sexual abuse of a minor in the third degree and one count of sexual abuse of a minor in the second degree. During trial, Defendant called a witness who opined about Defendant’s good character when interacting with children. On cross-examination, the trial court allowed the prosecutor to ask the witness if she knew Defendant had two prior convictions for sexually assaulting children. The Supreme Court affirmed, holding that the district court did not abuse its discretion in concluding that Defendant opened the door to character evidence under Wyo. R. Evid. 404(a)(1) and Wyo. R. Evid. 405(a), and the State’s presentation of rebuttal character evidence did not violate Defendant’s constitutional right to present a defense. View "McDowell v. State" on Justia Law

Two years after Cindy Hill, the Superintendent of Public Instruction for the State, the Wyoming Legislature passed Senate Enrolled Act 0001 (Act), which removed the Superintendent as the administrator and chief executive officer of the Department of Education (Department), created the new position of Director of the Department, and assigned to the Director nearly all the duties that were formerly the responsibility of the Superintendent. On the day the Act was signed into law, Hill and two Wyoming citizens (collectively, Appellants) filed an action seeking a declaratory judgment that the Act was unconstitutional. The district court for the First Judicial District of Wyoming certified questions of law to the Wyoming Supreme Court. The Supreme Court concluded that the Act unconstitutionally deprives the Superintendent of the power of “general supervision of the public schools” entrusted to the Superintendent in Wyo. Const. art. XII, 14 by impermissibly transferring the power to the Director. View "Powers v. State" on Justia Law