Summary 2012 WY 102

Summary of Decision July 30, 2012


Justice Voigt delivered the opinion for the Court. Reversed and Remanded.

Case Name: JERELE CRAIG COTHREN, JR., v. THE STATE OF WYOMING

Docket Number: S-11-0240

URL: http://www.courts.state.wy.us/Opinions.aspx

Appeal from the District Court of Natrona County, Honorable David B. Park, Judge.

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

Representing Appellee: Gregory A. Phillips, Wyoming Attorney General; David L. Delicath, Deputy Attorney General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Susan G. O’Brien, Senior Assistant Attorney General.

Date of Decision: July 30, 2012

Facts: The appellant, Jerele Craig Cothren, Jr., currently faces four separate sentences from three courts for unrelated crimes. The most recent sentence, and the one upon which the appellant’s appeal is based, required that the appellant serve his term of incarceration concurrent with a sentence for which the appellant is presently incarcerated, as well as consecutive to a probationary period that has yet to begin. Because it was impossible to meet both these requirements, and because the sentence as pronounced would require the period of incarceration to be interrupted by a period of probation, the sentence is illegal. The Court remanded to the district court for resentencing.

Issues: Is the sentence at issue an illegal sentence?

Holdings: The sentence under appeal was illegal because it was impossible to fulfill, and because it resulted in a period of incarceration interrupted by a period of probation. The Court reversed and remanded to the district court for imposition of a legal sentence.

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

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