Willoughby v. State

2011 WY 92, 253 P.3d 157, 2011 Wyo. LEXIS 92, 2011 WL 2206830
CourtWyoming Supreme Court
DecidedJune 8, 2011
DocketS-10-0161
StatusPublished
Cited by15 cases

This text of 2011 WY 92 (Willoughby v. State) 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
Willoughby v. State, 2011 WY 92, 253 P.3d 157, 2011 Wyo. LEXIS 92, 2011 WL 2206830 (Wyo. 2011).

Opinion

VOIGT, Justice.

[¶1] Elizabeth Miles Ehlers (the victim) was shot to death in Sublette County, Wyoming, on June 21, 1984. Troy Dean Wil-loughby (the appellant) was convicted of that murder on January 29, 2010. The appellant now appeals that conviction and the denial without a hearing of his motion for a new trial. Finding no error, we affirm.

*160 ISSUES

[¶2] 1. Did the district court abuse its discretion by failing to grant the appellant's motion for a new trial?

2. Did the prosecutor commit misconduct by violating discovery orders, by violating a pre-trial order regarding uncharged misconduct evidence, and by eliciting testimony from a law enforcement officer that the officer believed a witness was lying during an interview?

FACTS. 1

[¶3] During the evening of June 20, 1984, the victim attended a party with friends in Jackson, Wyoming. The appellant and his wife (R.H.) and a companion (T.B.) were also present. At some point during the party, the appellant sold some "dope" to the victim, who said that she would go get the payment money from her car. The appellant, watching from a window, saw the victim get in her car and drive away. He hurried to follow her, and was joined by RH. and T.B. as he left. As they were leaving, the appellant saw R.C., the person from whom he had purchased the "dope," and to whom he still owed the purchase money, and the appellant commented to R.C., "I might need that piece."

[¶4] Driving his car, with T.B. in the passenger's seat and RH. in the back seat, the appellant chased after the victim. At some point, as they headed south out of Jackson, the appellant pulled over to the side of the road, and R.C. pulled in behind the appellant's car. The appellant went to R.C.'s vehicle and returned with a pistol. He then resumed the chase of the victim, eventually coming upon her car pulled over in a turnout. Upon seeing the vehicle, the appellant said something like, "I've been looking for her." He pulled in behind the victim's car, got out of his ear, approached the victim's car, and dragged her out by the hair. A struggle and screaming match ensued, during which the appellant punched the victim twice in the face, causing her to fall to the ground. The appellant returned to his car, retrieved the pistol, walked back up to the victim and shot her twice.

[¶5] When the appellant returned to his vehicle, R.H. demanded to know what he had just done. The appellant responded that "this will teach the bitch to rip me off." The appellant then drove to his home in Daniel, a small town south of Jackson, where RH. drove him to work. T.B., being too afraid to leave and having no transportation, stayed with the appellant and RH. for a few days. At some point, the appellant told RH. he needed help hiding the gun, which was eventually hidden in the couple's septic tank. When RH. initially refused to assist the appellant, he struck her in the face with the butt of a rifle. After witnessing that violence, T.B. hitchhiked back to Jackson, where he made an anonymous telephone call to law enforcement saying the appellant had killed the victim.

[¶6] During the trial, several witnesses implicated the appellant in the victim's murder. Much of the preceding factual seenario came from the testimony of RH. and T.B., the eye witnesses, and from B.C., a fellow inmate with whom the appellant had discussed many aspects of the crime. In addition, another witness, D.S., testified that, during a hunting trip in 1984, the appellant had described how the victim was murdered, and that the appellant's account seared D.S. to the point that he eventually reported it to authorities. At the time of the murder, however, not everyone was so forthcoming, and insufficient evidence was developed with which to charge the appellant.

[¶7] The appellant's trial defense was that of alibi. He claimed to have been at work at the time of the murder. The State presented expert testimony, however, indicating that the appellant's signature and initials on the "drilling log" had been forged. Further, the appellant told B.C. that he had paid the driller $100.00 for the forgery. Beyond that, the appellant's defense focused *161 upon inconsistencies in the details of the testimony of the State's witnesses. The jury found the defendant guilty of first-degree murder, and the appellant's post-trial motion for a new trial was deemed denied when it was not determined by the district court within the time constraints of W.R.Cr.P. 88.

DISCUSSION

Did the district court abuse its discretion by failing to grant the appellant's motion for a new trial?

[18] We review the denial of a motion for new trial, including a motion based upon alleged prosecutorial misconduct, for an abuse of discretion. Lawson v. State, 2010 WY 145, ¶19, 242 P.3d 993, 1000 (Wyo.2010); Schafer v. State, 2008 WY 149, ¶21, 197 P.3d 1247, 1251 (Wyo.2008). Similarly, the decision whether or not to grant a hearing upon the filing of a motion for new trial is within the sound discretion of the district court; the district court "may deny a motion for new trial without a hearing when all that is necessary for disposition is already in the record." Best v. State, 769 P.2d 385, 389 (Wyo.1989). An abuse of discretion occurs when the district court could not reasonably have concluded as it did. Schafer, 2008 WY 149, ¶21, 197 P.8d at 1252.

Statement by the Appellant to D.S.

[19] In his new trial motion filed on February 3, 2010, the appellant raised eight issues. The first issue was whether the State had violated two court orders-one regarding uncharged misconduct evidence and one requiring the State to set forth the proposed testimony of witnesses-by eliciting testimony from D.S. that had not been revealed to defense counsel. The essence of that testimony was that, sometime after D.S. had told the authorities about the appellant's hunting camp description of the murder, D.S. and the appellant saw one another at a gas station and the appellant threatened to kill D.S. if he ever again talked to the police.

[¶ 10] Defense counsel objected at trial to this testimony as being violative of W.R.Cr.P. l6(a)(1)(A)(1)(2), because the State had not disclosed the alleged threat. 2 After a hearing outside the presence of the jury, the district court admonished the prosecutor for not disclosing the statement, and then instructed the jury to disregard that portion of D.S.'s testimony. The State now contends that W.R.Cr.P. governs only oral statements made to law enforcement officers, and that the summary of D.S.'s testimony disclosed in discovery was adequate under the rule. 3

[T11]l We have said many times that a trial error may be corrected by an appropriate curative instruction, and that we presume that jurors follow the court's instructions. See, eg., Janpol v. State, 2008 WY 21, ¶24, 178 P.3d 396, 405 (Wyo.2008); Brown v. State, 953 P.2d 1170, 1177 (Wyo.1998); Rubio v. State, 939 P.2d 238, 243 (Wyo.1997); and Burke v.

Free access — add to your briefcase to read the full text and ask questions with AI

Related

Joshua John O'dell v. The State of Wyoming
2026 WY 26 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2026)
John Byron Mills v. The State of Wyoming
2023 WY 76 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2023)
Kelly James Person v. The State of Wyoming
2023 WY 26 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2023)
Strider Dean Langley v. The State of Wyoming
2020 WY 135 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2020)
Mayhew v. State
438 P.3d 617 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2019)
Swett v. State
431 P.3d 1135 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2018)
Black v. State
2017 WY 135 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2017)
Carrier v. State
2017 WY 88 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2017)
John Henry Knospler, Jr. v. State
2016 WY 1 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2016)
Allen Joseph Collins v. State
2015 WY 92 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2015)
Shey Elan Bruce
2015 WY 46 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2015)
John Allen Moore v. The State of Wyoming
2013 WY 120 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2013)
Douglas Howard Craft v. The State of Wyoming
2013 WY 41 (Wyoming Supreme Court, 2013)

Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
2011 WY 92, 253 P.3d 157, 2011 Wyo. LEXIS 92, 2011 WL 2206830, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/willoughby-v-state-wyo-2011.