Summary 2009 WY 99

Summary of Decision issued August 18, 2009

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

Case Name: Greene v. State

Citation: 2009 WY 99

Docket Number: S-09-0014

Appeal from the District Court of Sweetwater County, the Honorable Jere A. Ryckman, Judge.

Representing Appellant Greene: Diane M. Lozano, State Public Defender; Tina N. Kerin, Appellate Counsel; Eric M. Alden, Senior Assistant Appellate Counsel.

Representing Appellee State: Bruce A. Salzburg, Attorney General; Terry L. Armitage, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Jenny Lynn Craig, Assistant Attorney General.

Facts/Discussion: Greene entered guilty pleas to three felony charges of obtaining controlled substances by misrepresentation and no contest to a charge of attempting to obtain property by false pretenses.

Felonies or misdemeanors: The crimes for which Greene was convicted were committed in 2006-2007 and he was charged in 2007 and early 2008. During all of that time, the Wyoming statutes specified that the crime of obtaining controlled substances by misrepresentation was a felony. In 2008, the legislature amended the statute making Greene’s first two convictions misdemeanors while the third and subsequent offenses remained felonies. Greene pleaded guilty and was convicted and sentenced after the effective date of the amendment. As a result of the Wyoming “savings” statute, which states that a pending prosecution will not be affected in substance or remedy by an amendment to a statute unless that intent is expressly stated, the Court concluded that the 2008 amendment did not affect Greene’s prosecutions.
Addicted Offender Accountability Act: The Act provides alternatives for sentencing “addicted qualified offenders.” Under the Act, a qualified offender may receive probation or a suspended sentence but there is no language requiring that result. The district court determined that it was appropriate to incarcerate Greene whether or not he was a qualified offender. It does not matter whether the district court documented in writing its determination of Greene’s status as a qualified offender.

Conclusion: The 2008 amendment to the statutes did not affect Greene’s prosecutions. The record confirmed that the district court’s actions and determinations complied with the requirements of the Addicted Offender Accountability Act.

Affirmed.

J. Burke delivered the decision.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/ogjogw .

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