Summary 2009 WY 37

Summary of Decision issued March 11, 2009

Summaries are prepared by Law Librarians and are not official statements of the Wyoming Supreme Court.

Case Name: Nelson v. State

Citation: 2009 WY 37

Docket Number: S-07-0299

Appeal from the District Court of Campbell County, the Honorable Michael N. Deegan, Judge.

Representing Appellant Nelson: Diane M. Lozano, Wyoming State Public Defender; Tina N. Kerin, Appellate Counsel; Kirk A. Morgan, Senior Assistant Appellate Counsel.

Representing Appellee State: Bruce A. Salzburg, Wyoming Attorney General; Terry L. Armitage, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Graham M. Smith, Assistant Attorney General.

Facts/Discussion: Nelson was convicted by a jury of aggravated assault and battery as a result of an attempted traffic stop by Sergeant Boisvert. During the incident, Nelson backed his truck into the patrol car requiring Boisvert to jump out of the way. Nelson caused damage to camper trailers as well as to the patrol car.

Discovery: Nelson complained that his entire defense rested on the assertion that the Sergeant was biased and jaded because he had experienced similar past events. Nelson also asserted that testimony concerning other, similar occurrences was the only way to test the Sergeant’s credibility. The Court supported the district court’s decision to deny the request stating that the information relative to the Sergeant’s past work-related affairs was not material in light of the facts. Simply being involved in similar circumstances did not give rise to any presumption of a negative predisposition to such events.
Recall of Sergeant Boisvert: The reason given for calling the Sergeant was to question him about specific past events. The district court denied the request on the grounds that the proposed testimony was not relevant and would likely confuse the jury. The Court agreed stating that any involvement by the Sergeant in prior, similar events was irrelevant to the credibility of his testimony in the instant case.

Conclusion: The Court found no abuse of discretion by the district court in the contested discovery and evidentiary rulings.

Affirmed.

J. Golden delivered the decision.

C.J. Voigt dissented: The Chief Justice noted he would have found an abuse of discretion in the district court’s refusal to allow the appellant to call Sergeant Boisvert as a witness in his case-in-chief. Nelson should have been allowed to question the Sergeant about the prior similar incidents to test whether his perception of the appellant’s intent may have been colored by those incidents. It was relevant and admissible.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/cq5bm6 .

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