Summary 2013 WY 122

Summary of Decision October 4, 2013

Justice Voigt delivered the opinion for the Court. Affirmed.

Case Name: TERRY SMITH v. THE STATE OF WYOMING

DENA T. BLOMQUIST v. THE STATE OF WYOMING

Docket Numbers: S-12-0230; S-12-0231

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

W.R.A.P. 11 Certification from the District Court of Teton County The Honorable Timothy C. Day, Judge

Representing Appellant Terry Smith: Christopher S. Leigh of Jackson, Wyoming.

Representing Appellant Dena T. Blomquist: Richard D. Stout of DeFazio Law Office, LLC, Jackson, Wyoming.

Representing Appellees: Gregory A. Phillips, Wyoming Attorney General; Peter K. Michael, Interim Attorney General; David L. Delicath, Deputy Attorney General; Theodore R. Racines, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Jeffrey S. Pope, Assistant Attorney General; Christyne Martens, Assistant Attorney General; D. Terry Rogers and Clark C. Allan, Special Assistant Attorneys General. Argument by Mr. Rogers.

Date of Decision: October 4, 2013

On November 6, 2012, this Court issued a Notice of Agreement to Answer Certified Questions in these two unrelated cases. The questions we agreed to answer were stated as follows:

1. Did the Teton County Circuit Court err when it found that the remotely communicated search warrants, which were not based upon affidavit, issued pursuant to W.S. 31-6-102(d), do not violate Wyo. Const. art. 1, § 4?

2. Did the Teton County Circuit Court err when it found that the remotely communicated search warrants do not have to comply with the requirements of W.R.Cr.P. 41?

We later concluded that, because the wording of the first question is such that it may be construed to be based upon a faulty legal premise, as will be discussed below, and because of clarification of search and seizure law by the United States Supreme Court in the interim, the questions should be re-phrased to better provide guidance to the State’s courts. Consequently, we issued an Order Requiring Briefing on Revised Certified Questions, in which we re-stated the questions as follows:

1. Do the procedures set forth in Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-102(d) (LexisNexis 2011) comply with the affidavit requirements of Wyo. Const. art. 1, § 4?

2. Must a remotely communicated search warrant issued pursuant to Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-102(a) comply with the requirements of W.R.Cr.P. 41?

The procedures set forth in Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-102(d) do not violate Wyo. Const. art. 1, § 4. Search warrants issued pursuant to Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 31-6-102(d) must meet the requirements of W.R.Cr.P. 41(c). We reply in the affirmative to both questions.

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

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