Summary 2010 WY 95

Summary of Decision issued July 2, 2010

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

Case Name: Christensen v. State

Citation: 2010 WY 95

Docket Number: S-09-0193

Appeal from the District Court of Laramie County, the Honorable Michael K. Davis, Judge.

Representing Christensen: Michael H. Reese, Contract Appellate Counsel, Michael H. Reese, PC.

Representing 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: Christensen claimed that the State breached a plea agreement that would have allowed him to enter the Wyoming Substance Abuse Treatment & Recovery Centers (WySTAR) before being sentenced.

Christensen pointed to a conversation with the prosecutor where the prosecutor refused to release Christensen to allow him to enter WySTAR as being a breach of the plea agreement. A review of the record did not lead the Court to conclude that the conversation necessarily constituted a breach. Although both parties agree that the prosecutor indicated to Christensen’s attorney that he would not release Christensen to allow him to enter WySTAR, the context and substance of that conversation were not reflected in the record. The State did not object to or otherwise prevent Christensen from moving the district court to release Christensen and Christensen did not raise the treatment issue as being a breach before the district court.

Conclusion: The record reflects the incident that Christensen points to as the alleged breach; however, the record does not clearly reflect that a violation of a clear and unequivocal rule of law occurred. The most that can be said is that the prosecutor made an out-of-court statement that he would not release Christensen to WySTAR. With or without a plea agreement, the prosecutor does not have such release authority. That authority belongs to the district court, and the record shows that Christensen never complied with the district court’s instructions to “come back to court” when a bed became available at WySTAR. Furthermore, Christensen never directly raised the issue of breach with the district court.

Affirmed.

C.J. Voigt delivered the decision.

Link: http://tinyurl.com/26rkg32 .

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