Case Title: KEITH ALLAN TYNER v. THE STATE OF WYOMING

Citation: 

Docket Number: S-10-0210

State: wyoming

Court: Wyoming Supreme Court

Date: 2011-04-12T00:00:00Z

Document:
KEITH ALLAN TYNER v. THE STATE OF WYOMING2011 WY 60Case Number: No. S-10-0210Decided: 04/12/2011NOTICE: This opinion is subject to formal revision before publication in Pacific Reporter Third. Readers are requested to notify the Clerk of the Supreme Court, Supreme Court Building, Cheyenne, Wyoming 82002, of any typographical or other formal errors so correction may be made before final publication in the permanent volume.
APRIL 
TERM, A.D. 2011

 
 

KEITH 
ALLAN TYNER,Appellant (Defendant),v.THE STATE OF 
WYOMING,Appellee (Plaintiff).

 
 
 
 
Appeal 
from the District Court of Natrona County

 
 

Representing 
Appellant:

Diane 
Lozano, State Public Defender; Tina N. Olsen, Appellate Counsel; Wyoming Public 
Defender Program. 

 
 

Representing 
Appellee:

Bruce 
A. Salzburg, Wyoming Attorney General; Terry L. Armitage, Deputy Attorney 
General; D. Michael Pauling, Senior Assistant Attorney General; Leda M. Pojman, 
Senior Assistant Attorney General.

 
 
 
 
Before 
KITE, C.J., and GOLDEN, HILL, VOIGT, and BURKE, 
JJ.

 
 

GOLDEN, 
Justice.

 
 
[¶1]      Appellant Keith 
Allan Tyner was convicted of battery under Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-501(b).  Because this was Tyner's third battery 
conviction involving a household member, the conviction was enhanced pursuant to 
Wyo. Stat. Ann. § 6-2-501(f)(ii) to a felony.  He was sentenced accordingly to a term 
of imprisonment of two to four years, which was suspended in favor of a split 
sentence of six months in county jail followed by three years of supervised 
probation.  In this appeal, Tyner 
challenges the use of his previous convictions as a basis for the felony 
enhancement.  We need not reach the 
merits of Tyner's complaints because we find there is fundamental error 
requiring that we vacate Tyner's conviction.  See Sanchez v. State, 592 P.2d 1130, 
1131 (Wyo. 1979) (sua sponte recognition of blatant error resulting in a 
miscarriage of justice); Town of Green 
River v. Martin, 71 Wyo. 81, 97, 254 P.2d 198, 201 (1953) (court may notice 
fundamental error appearing in the record although not called to its 
attention).

 

[¶2]      The record shows 
that Tyner was convicted of violating a statute that had been superseded at the 
time the alleged criminal activity occurred.  Section 6-2-501(b) was amended on July 
1, 2009.  2009 Wyo. Sess. Laws, chs. 
124, 169.  Before the amendment, the 
statute provided:

 
 
A 
person is guilty of battery if he unlawfully touches another in a rude, 
insolent, or angry manner or intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes 
bodily injury to another.

 
 
Wyo. 
Stat. Ann. § 6-2-501(b) (LexisNexis 2007).

 
 
[¶3]      The 2009 
amendment substantively rewrote the statute, separating out the crime of battery 
and the crime of unlawful contact.  
Section 6-2-501 now provides in pertinent part:

 
 
(b)       A person is 
guilty of battery if he intentionally, knowingly or recklessly causes bodily 
injury to another person by use of physical force.

 
 
                        
* * * *

 
 
(g)       A person is 
guilty of unlawful contact if he:

 
 
(i)         
Touches another person in a rude, insolent or angry manner without 
intentionally using sufficient physical force to cause bodily injury to another; 
or

 
 
(ii)        
Recklessly causes bodily injury to another person.

 
 
Wyo. 
Stat. Ann. § 6-2-501 (LexisNexis 2009).

 
 
[¶4]      The Information 
in this case charged Tyner in pertinent part as follows:

 
 
COMES 
NOW [Prosecutor] . . . and in the name and by the authority of the State of 
Wyoming, informs the Court and gives the Court to understand that KEITH ALLAN 
TYNER . . . on or about the 23rd day of December, 2009, . . . did 
unlawfully touch another in a rude, insolent or angry manner or intentionally, 
knowingly, or recklessly cause bodily injury to another, and upon conviction the 
Defendant will be convicted of a third or subsequent offense against any other 
household member . . . within the previous ten (10) years, in violation of W.S. 
1977, as amended, § 6-2-501(b) and (f)(ii) . . . .

 
 
[¶5]      As indicated, 
Tyner's alleged criminal activity occurred on December 23, 2009, five months 
after the effective date of the amendment.  
Tyner, however, was charged in conformance with the language of the 
superseded version of § 6-2-501(b).  
As such, the Information failed to properly charge a criminal offense 
under Wyoming law.  Since the 
criminal charge was not valid, Tyner's conviction cannot stand, and it is hereby 
vacated.  Because there are no other 
charges against Tyner, the case is remanded with directions to dismiss without 
prejudice the Information.