Harry Scott Harnsberger

In State v. Posey, the defendant was charged with and convicted of feloniously uttering a $1,000 check with intent to defraud the payee while knowing he lacked sufficient funds or credit at the drawee bank. The court reversed the conviction and remanded for a new trial, holding that the trial court erred by excluding defense evidence of the defendant's bank balance, related payments, and account activity that could show adequate funds or credit at the relevant time. The court further reasoned that the jury instruction was prejudicial because it incorrectly suggested the bank's refusal to pay the check alone established the defendant's knowledge of insufficient funds, whereas the statute requires independent proof of scienter and the refusal itself does not create any presumption of fraudulent intent.

criminal lawprocedure

The case involved Charles Ditzel, convicted of embezzlement under Wyoming statute § 9-328 for failing to apply funds received from Kassler & Company in the manner directed by closing statements, instead using them in other ways without accounting for them when required. The Supreme Court of Wyoming considered two issues: whether the trial court erred by excluding Ditzel's testimony regarding alleged approval or consent from Kassler & Co. or its representative to divert the funds, and whether the statutory embezzlement charge was sufficient when it omitted the words "unlawfully and feloniously." The court held that the excluded testimony was direct evidence of permission rather than hearsay and should have been admitted, as the questions themselves revealed its competent, relevant, and material nature without need for an offer of proof; the charge was adequately stated in the statute's language. The conviction was reversed and the case remanded due to prejudicial error in excluding the evidence.

criminal lawprocedure

The case involved a petition for a writ of mandamus by Blonder to compel Goodbrod, the recorder of Pumpkin Buttes Mining District, to accept and record lode mining claim location certificates without complying with local district regulations that required assignment of royalties and other payments to surface owners. The lower court granted a peremptory writ ex parte without prior notice to the defendant. On appeal, the Wyoming Supreme Court reversed, holding that state statutes no longer required recording with the district recorder after a 1895 amendment deleted that requirement, leaving only county clerk recording as mandatory; thus, the district regulations imposing additional duties were invalid and created no enforceable obligation on the recorder. The court also noted that county recording alone provides full legal protection to locators.

propertyprocedurebusiness & regulatory

This case involved a divorce action in which the wife was granted an absolute divorce and a property settlement from her husband. The husband appealed, arguing that the trial court lacked personal jurisdiction over him because two summonses were defective in their return dates and manner of service, violating Wyoming statutes governing process. The court held that both summonses failed to meet statutory requirements for timely and proper service, rendering them ineffective to confer jurisdiction. Although the husband participated in the proceedings after his special appearance objecting to jurisdiction was overruled, the court concluded he did not waive the objection because he consistently preserved it at every stage. The judgment was therefore reversed.

family lawprocedure

In Arnold v. State, multiple defendants already serving penitentiary sentences for prior convictions were jointly tried in Carbon County district court on charges of felonious assault with intent to commit murder in the second degree; three were convicted by the jury of the lesser offense of assault and battery, while the others were acquitted, leading to a judgment imposing fines, costs of $904.70, and jail sentences on the convicted defendants to be served after completion of their existing terms. The convicted defendants moved to amend the judgment and retax costs on grounds including improper indefinite sentencing, joint liability for costs without apportionment, and deferred execution of the new sentences, while the acquitted defendants also sought relief; the trial court corrected the sentence to a definite six-month term but otherwise denied the motions. On appeal, the Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed the judgment as modified, reducing the costs assessed against one defendant to $57.60 on the basis that the record did not permit reallocation beyond what the trial court had implicitly found regarding shared evidence, while upholding the remainder of the sentencing and cost provisions.

criminal lawprocedure

In this quiet title action, plaintiff Milliron Oil Company sued multiple defendants including appellant Hillberry to establish its ownership of oil, gas, and other mineral rights beneath certain lands, relying on a 1916 deed from the Mill Iron Cattle Company and prescriptive possession. Hillberry countered that he held superior title to the minerals through a chain from George Merrill, tax deeds, and long-term adverse possession of both surface and subsurface. The trial court quieted title to the minerals in the plaintiff, and the Wyoming Supreme Court affirmed. The core reasoning was that both parties' titles derived from the common source of the Mill Iron Cattle Company, which had severed surface rights (conveyed to Merrill) from mineral rights (conveyed to the plaintiff); under the rule that parties claiming from the same source are estopped from denying that source's title, the plaintiff's mineral deed was superior to Hillberry's surface-only grant.

property