Summary 2010 WY 90

Summary of Decision issued June 29, 2010

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

Case Name: Hackett v. State

Citation: 2010 WY 90

Docket Number: S-09-0163

Appeal from the District Court of Campbell County, the Honorable John R. Perry, Judge.

Representing Hackett: Diane Lozano, State Public Defender; Tina Kerin, Appellate Counsel; David E. Westling, Senior Assistant Appellate Counsel.

Representing State: Bruce A. Salzburg, Wyoming Attorney General; Terry L. Armitage, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Amy Gleason, Student Intern, Prosecution Assistance Program.

Facts/Discussion: After a jury trial, Hackett was convicted of one count of first degree sexual assault. Hackett objected that the PSI was unfairly biased against him.
Hackett focused on two of his objections: that the PSI substituted a graphic statement of probable cause of the prior offense in 2002 instead of a brief statement of the offense and he argued that the conclusion and evaluations were very biased. The Court noted that the comments in the instant case are similar to those in Noller and Carothers where the Court admonished PSI agents that it is not their function to act as legal advocates but to be neutral participants and to provide the information specified in Rule 32(a)(2) for consideration by the sentencing court. After reviewing Hackett’s objections in context with the entire PSI, along with the court’s comments during sentencing, the Court concluded that no abuse of discretion occurred.

Conclusion: The district court did not abuse its discretion in considering the Presentence Investigation Reports in full when sentencing Hackett.

Affirmed.

J. Hill delivered the decision.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/25a9l5o .

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