Summary 2010 WY 22

Summary of Decision issued March 3, 2010

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

Case Name: Cooper v. State

Citation: 2010 WY 22

Docket Number: S-09-0187

Appeal from the District Court of Natrona County, the Honorable Scott W. Skavdahl, Judge.

Representing Appellant Cooper: Cleo Cooper, pro se.

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

Facts/Discussion: Cooper appealed the district court’s denial of a motion to correct an illegal sentence in which the district court clarified its intent that the sentence was to run consecutive to other sentences.
Cooper filed a direct appeal from the judgment and sentence of the conviction in case No. 16970-C which was consolidated with No. 16849-B. He did not raise the illegal-sentence issue in that appeal. It was not until July 2009 that Cooper raised the issue with the district court. Cooper failed to make any argument to show good cause as to why the issue was not brought to the attention of the district court or the Court on those prior occasions.

Conclusion: The Court found that res judicata barred review of the issue raised by Cooper because he did not raise it in his motion for sentence reduction or in his direct appeal and he has not shown good cause to excuse those failures.

Affirmed.

C.J. Voigt delivered the decision.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/yfvhzjo .

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