NEWS BRIEFS for Friday, June 14, 2019

Six stories included today

From Wyoming News Exchange newspapers
Posted 6/14/19

NEWS BRIEFS for Friday, June 14, 2019

From Wyoming News Exchange newspapers

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NEWS BRIEFS for Friday, June 14, 2019

Six stories included today

Posted

NEWS BRIEFS for Friday, June 14, 2019

From Wyoming News Exchange newspapers

Casper man pleads not guilty to attempted murder charges

CHEYENNE (WNE) — The Casper man accused of shooting at law enforcement during a high-speed chase last month pleaded not guilty to all charges Thursday.

Dominique Childers, 23, faces two counts of attempted first-degree murder after allegedly firing multiple shots at Wyoming Highway Patrol troopers during a high-speed chase that went through downtown Cheyenne in May. He also faces felony property destruction, felony possession of methamphetamine and reckless endangering-conduct and eluding. He pleaded not guilty to those charges, as well.

Laramie County District Judge Catherine Rogers postponed setting Childers’ trial date pending more information about his co-defendant, Chastity Jacobs, who was a passenger in the vehicle.

Childers was allegedly driving a stolen 2016 Toyota Camry that reached a maximum speed of 115 mph while trying to avoid being pulled over on the interstate. He drove through downtown Cheyenne at speeds close to 65 mph, according to police reports. The chase ended near the VA Medical Center on East Pershing Boulevard.

Childers reportedly fired at a trooper several times and shot at a police officer, who returned fire, striking Childers twice. No officers were injured, but the defendant was hospitalized for his injuries.

The man remains in custody at Laramie County jail. If convicted, Childers could face life in prison.

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Juror faces jail over refusal to serve

LARAMIE (WNE) — Albany County District Court Judge Tori Kricken ruled this week that a juror in a Laramie civil case will be jailed indefinitely starting June 28 unless she completes 20 hours of community service and writes an essay about the “importance of the American judicial system.”

Lindsey Salisbury, a mental health counselor at Pathfinder Mental Health Professionals, was held in contempt of court after refusing to serve on a jury she was selected for last week.

After a contempt hearing Tuesday, Kricken ruled that if Salisbury is to avoid jail time, she will need to perform 20 hours of community service for a “community service organization of her choosing” and complete a “10-page single-spaced typed paper regarding the importance of the American judicial system, the jury’s role in the same, and the importance of an individual’s civic responsibly of service.”

On June 3, Salisbury was selected as a juror for a two-week trial regarding a major business dispute between Laramie energy company WellDog and former business partners in Australia.

After voir dire, Salisbury “expressed some concern with the length of trial vis-a-vis her employment as a private mental health counselor,” Kricken wrote in her contempt order.

“However, when questioned, Ms. Salisbury expressed that there were other counselors available in her practice to assist with clients if necessary and, further, that there were alternatives available to any of her clients should a mental health emergency arise,” Kricken wrote.

According to Kricken’s order, both the judge and the case’s lawyers “agreed that Ms. Salisbury did not qualify to be excused for cause.”

Salisbury, however, refused to take the juror’s oath anyway.

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Drug-involved car crashes on rise in Wyoming

SHERIDAN (WNE) — There were 20 drug-involved crashes in Wyoming in May, six more than in the previous month and one less than in March, which had the most so far this year.

According to statistics provided by the Governor’s Council on Impaired Driving, there have been 77 drug-involved traffic crashes through May 2019, 36 of those have been drug-involved crashes with injuries. There have been four deaths this year due to drug-involved crashes; the same a year ago. At this time last year, there were 78 drug-related crashes.

Across the state, drug-involved crashes were going down each year from 2015 through 2017 but saw a slight increase in 2018. Fatalities due to drug involved crashes have gone down since 2015 and continue to stay down. There were 12 fatalities in 2018, nine less than a year before.

Drug-involved refers to the presence of any substance other than alcohol. Driving under the influence of drugs fall under the same state statute as alcohol and will be prosecuted the same under Wyoming Statute 32-5-133, said Sheridan County Sheriff Allen Thompson.

“Not only are we seeing a high number of people driving under the influence of alcohol, but now we are seeing an increase in numbers of driving under the influence of other substances,” said Byron Oedekoven, executive director of Wyoming Association of Sheriffs and Chiefs of Police. 

Right now, marijuana is the drug most commonly used when driving under the influence of a substance other than alcohol Oedekoven said. WASCOP has been collecting data from all 23 counties across Wyoming and puts the data into yearly reports for each county.

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Laramie County Fair Board to appeal dissolution ruling

CHEYENNE (WNE) — An attorney representing the Laramie County Fair Board said she intends to appeal a district judge’s ruling that Laramie County commissioners were within their authority to dissolve the board.

Attorney Gay Woodhouse told the Wyoming Tribune Eagle late Wednesday she will soon file an appeal of District Court Judge Thomas Campbell’s decision and take the issue to the Wyoming Supreme Court.

“We disagree with the judge’s decision,” Woodhouse said. “We have a specific reason why we don’t think the case that he relied on applied to this matter.”

The County Commission in November voted to dismiss the independent volunteer board, arguing a new events department run by professionals could better oversee the Archer Complex, its new $9.9 million events center and other county recreation.

But fair board members objected and took the case to court, saying it was an overreach and a power grab by commissioners.

In the ruling issued earlier this month, Campbell stated, “The county commissioners possess the implied power to dissolve a board that they were granted the power to create. This is necessarily and fairly implied from, and incident to, their express power to create the Board in the first instance.”

In a news release Woodhouse said, “Commissioners had the power to create the board, but (state statute) specifically limits the power to abolish when it states ‘The board has perpetual existence and it is not necessary to file any certificate other than that filed upon original organization.’”

She added that “the Fair Board maintains that the Laramie County Commissioners cannot ignore a statutory mandate that the Laramie County Fair Board exist perpetually.”

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Man receives suspended sentence for assault of daughter’s boyfriend

GILLETTE (WNE) — A father who broke a 16-year-old boy’s nose after learning he was in a bedroom with his 14-year-old daughter told a judge Wednesday that he instantly regretted his actions and that he wishes he could take them back.

Adam Keuck, 39, apologized to his family and the victims and their families at his sentencing hearing for felony aggravated assault and a misdemeanor count of reckless endangerment.

But District Judge John R. Perry wasn’t sympathetic to Keuck’s statement, calling his behavior “absolutely reprehensible” and referred to “the absolutely idiocy of your conduct.”

Perry gave him a suspended 6- to 10-year sentence for aggravated assault and one year in jail for reckless endangerment. 

Four teenagers had gathered at a house April 14, including the daughter, who had been picked up by a friend. The friend told police that when he picked her up, Keuck came to the car and spoke threateningly, pointing out the young age of his daughter. He reportedly pointed a handgun at the 17-year-old, saying, “They’ll never find your body.”

That incident led to the reckless endangering charge.

Keuck and the girl’s mother Sara Cage decided to follow the two. When they arrived at the house, they went inside and learned that the girl and another boy were in a bedroom. 

They went to the bedroom and pulled the 16-year-old boy by his hair out of a closet where he had hidden, according to the affidavit.

The boy was thrown on the bed and Keuck began punching him, eventually drawing a firearm from a holster and pointing it at the boy’s face. 

Perry told Keuck that he erred going into the house rather than calling police and letting them deal with it.

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Fremont commissioners back county clerk

RIVERTON (WNE) — In a letter to all county employees, the Fremont County Board of Commissioners issued a unanimous letter of support of Fremont County Clerk Julie Freese, her office and Fremont County Attorney Patrick LeBrun, against allegations by Wyoming Democratic Party alleging voter suppression from the recent 2018 election season.

The commissioners wrote that the Democrats' complaints were "unfounded," and that "no one was denied the right to register to vote."

The letter also commends LeBrun's efforts, saying he launched a "thorough investigation and transparent findings regarding this complaint."

In May, the WDP sent a request for investigation to the Fremont County Attorney's Office regarding two incidents from October and November of 2018.

In the first incident at the office of the Fremont County Clerk, several American Indian voters averred that they could use their tribal identification as verification when registering to vote.

Wyoming Election Law states that any registrant who possesses a legal Wyoming driver's license must present it to register.

The second incident occurred on Election Day, when prospective voters were made to read the voter's oath aloud at a polling station in Ethete. Democrats said the procedure was being used as a literacy test. However, when concluding his investigation into the matter, Fremont County Attorney Patrick LeBrun stated that the requirement was "...not, in line, with training, however it was not being used as a literacy test.”