WMCI stabbing suspect set to stand trial in June

Staff report
Posted 4/24/20

TORRINGTON – Laziur Stephen Hanway, a Wyoming Medium Correctional Institute inmate who stands accused of stabbing another inmate, will stand trial on July 20 at 9 a.m.

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WMCI stabbing suspect set to stand trial in June

Posted

TORRINGTON – Laziur Stephen Hanway, a Wyoming Medium Correctional Institute inmate who stands accused of stabbing another inmate, will stand trial on July 20 at 9 a.m.
Hanway was originally scheduled to stand trial in March, but the trial was postponed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Hanway is currently serving a life sentence after being convicted of second-degree murder in 2013.
Hanway is charged with attempted murder and aggravated assault and battery after attacking a fellow inmate with a homemade stabbing weapon in September 2019.
Earlier this month in the Eighth Judicial District Court, Judge Patrick Korell ordered the Wyoming Department of Corrections to release an unredacted report on the incident. The WDOC argued that confidential informants could be revealed in the report, but Korell deemed the information essential for both the defense and the prosecution.
“The prosecution asserts the information is relevant, necessary to fully understand the details of the crime and not otherwise procurable,” the order said.

“The DOC seeks to prohibit the disclosure of the material due to an ‘immediate and credible security concern for certain inmates and staff who may be subject to retaliation.”
The WDOC argued that it would likely have to move an inmate out of the state due to the release of the report.  
“The Department received information from an inmate who the DOC identified as a confidential informant,” the report said. “The CI disclosed a possible reason why Defendant attacked the victim. The information also discloses the possible source of the weapon allegedly used by Defendant.
“The information obviously supports an argument by the state of defendants motive and the alleged means in which Defendant was able to obtain a weapon to carry out the crimes.”
According to the Affidavit of Probable Cause in Hanway’s case, filed by Torrington Police Department Sgt. Patrick Connelly, the assault was captured on the prison’s video security system.
“I watched the video, which shows Hanway approaching the victim from behind while the victim is seated at a dining room table,” Connelly wrote. “Hanway walks directly to the victim and begins striking him in the right side of the neck. The victim falls to the floor and Hanway follows him and can be seen continuing to strike the victim until a corrections officer pulls him off.”
Connelly described the weapon used by Hanway as “a straightened piece of cylindrical metal, possibly a section of chain link fence which was wrapped with tape and cloth to make a handle and ground to a point at the end.”
The affidavit states the victim received seven puncture wounds, including wounds to the neck and face.