Trent Breon Dean

2014 WY 158, 339 P.3d 509, 2014 Wyo. LEXIS 180, 2014 WL 6899991
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedDecember 9, 2014
DocketS-14-0094
StatusPublished
Cited by12 cases

This text of 2014 WY 158 (Trent Breon Dean) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering Wyoming Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Trent Breon Dean, 2014 WY 158, 339 P.3d 509, 2014 Wyo. LEXIS 180, 2014 WL 6899991 (Wyo. 2014).

Opinion

KITE, Justice.

[¶ 1] A jury found Trent Breon Dean guilty of felony stalking, for stalking his vie-tim in violation of a protection order. He appeals his conviction and sentence, claiming the district court improperly instructed the jury concerning the elements of the crime of stalking and the State did not present sufficient evidence to establish that he acted with the requisite intent. We affirm.

ISSUES

[¶ 2] The issues for our determination are:

1. Whether sufficient evidence was presented to establish that Mr. Dean intended to harass the vietim.

2. Whether the jury was properly instructed concerning the elements of the crime of stalking.

FACTS

[¶ 3] The Laramie County Attorney's Office charged Mr. Dean by information on August 8, 2012, with stalking his estranged wife in violation of a protection order issued July 27, 2012, pursuant to Wyo. Stat. Ann. §§ 7-3-508 and 7-3-509 (LexisNexis 2013). The affidavit of probable cause attached to the information stated that Mr. and Mrs. Dean were married but separated pending resolution of divorce proceedings filed by Mrs. Dean. It further stated that Mr. Dean had been previously convicted and sentenced to prison for felony domestic violence against Mrs. Dean and she feared further violence as a result of having filed for divorcee. The affidavit stated that in a conversation with Mr. Dean on July 26, 2012, Mrs. Dean told Mr. Dean that his behavior made her fearful and she felt like he was a "ticking time bomb." After this conversation, Mr. Dean went to his wife's office and left a clock and two notes on her desk. Based on this event and Mr. Dean's past behavior, Mrs. Dean's *511 supervisors called security and the building where she worked was locked down. During the lock down, Mr. Dean made repeated telephone calls to Mrs. Dean's office.

[¶ 4] Later, someone tried to break into Mrs. Dean's home and she called the police. The police found evidence that someone had tried to enter the home by removing a fan placed in an open window. Mrs. Dean subsequently applied for and, after a court hearing, obtained a protection order pursuant to §§ 7-3-508 and 7-3-509 prohibiting Mr. Dean from contacting her. The order was entered on July 27, 2012. <~Despite the protection order, Mr. Dean continued to call and send text messages to Mrs. Dean. On July 31, 2012, police arrested Mr. Dean for violating the protection order. He continued to make telephone calls to Mrs. Dean from the detention center where he was being held, making fifty-six calls in seven days.

[¶ 5] The statute Mr. Dean was charged with violating provides in relevant part as follows:

§ 6-2-506. Stalking; penalty.
(a) As used in this section:
(i) "Course of conduct" means a pattern of conduct composed of a series of acts over any period of time evidencing a continuity of purpose;
(i) "Harass" means to engage in a course of conduct, including but not limited to verbal threats, written threats, lewd or obscene statements or images, vandalism or nonconsensual physical contact, directed at a specific person or the family of a specific person, which the defendant knew or should have known would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress, and which does in fact seriously alarm the person toward whom it is directed.
(b) Unless otherwise provided by law, a person commits the crime of stalking if, with intent to harass another person, the person engages in a course of conduct reasonably likely to harass that person, including but not limited to any combination of the following:
(i) Communicating, anonymously or otherwise, or causing a communication with another person by verbal, electronic, mechanical, telegraphic, telephonic or written means in a manner that harasses;
(1) Following a person, other than within the residence of the defendant;
(ii) Placing a person under surveillance by remaining present outside his or her school, place of employment, vehicle, other place occupied by the person, or residence other than the residence of the defendant; or
(iv) Otherwise engaging in a course of conduct that harasses another person.
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(e) A person convicted of stalking under subsection (b) of this section is guilty of felony stalking punishable by imprisonment for not more than ten (10) years, if:
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(iv) The defendant committed the offense of stalking in violation of a temporary or permanent order of protection issued pursuant to W.S. 7-3-508 or 7-8-509, or pursuant to a substantially similar law of another jurisdiction.

[¶ 6] At trial, 1 the instructions the district court gave the jury included the following:

Instruction No. 9
The elements of the crime of Stalking, as charged in this case are:
1. On or about the 80th day of July, 2012 through the 7th day of August, 2012,
In Laramie County, Wyoming po
[Mr.] Dean go
With the intent to harass [Mrs.] Dean s
While engaged in a course of conduct reasonably likely to harass [Mrs.] Dean or
6. [Mr. Dean] committed the acts set forth in paragraphs 4 and 5 in violation of a stalking protection order.
*512 Instruction No. 10
As used in Instruction No. 9, "course of conduct" means a pattern of conduct consisting of a series of acts over any period of time which demonstrates a continuity of purpose.
Instruction No. 11
As used in Instruction No. 9, "harass" means to engage in a course of conduct, including but not limited to verbal threats, written threats, vandalism or noneonsensual physical contact, directed at a specific person or the family of a specific person, which the defendant knew or should have known would cause a reasonable person to suffer substantial emotional distress, and which does in fact seriously alarm the person toward whom it is directed.
Instruction No. 12
As used in Instruction No. 9, "order of protection" means a temporary or permanent order issued by a Court ordering a person to refrain from acts of stalking involving another person or persons.

[¶ 7] The jury found Mr. Dean guilty of felony stalking. The district court sentenced him to a term of incarceration of nine to ten years. Mr. Dean timely appealed his convietion and sentence.

DISCUSSION

1. Sufficiency of the Evidence

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Bluebook (online)
2014 WY 158, 339 P.3d 509, 2014 Wyo. LEXIS 180, 2014 WL 6899991, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/trent-breon-dean-wyo-2014.