Opinion ID: 2607400
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: issues presentedbasic fallacy of the majority opinion

Text: This case presents broad and basic issues of Wyoming law: (a) availability of a theory of defense instruction for a criminal defendant; (b) basic nature and application of felony murder; (c) nature of the crime of accessory after the fact; and (d) requirement for jury unanimity in determining its verdict. Marvin Jay Bouwkamp, II, now serving a life sentence for first degree murder, was convicted for commission of the offense of accessory after the fact, which he admitted and for which he was not prosecuted, and was denied proper opportunity to present his defense of innocence to the charge of aiding and abetting in commission of a homicide, which he emphatically denied. Whether completely innocent or totally guilty of criminal responsibility for the first degree murder, Bouwkamp was denied the constitutional right to adequately defend his claimed innocence of homicide participation. Errors in conception and misapplication of firmly based criminal principles properly presented by Bouwkamp during his trial, and now considered on appeal, include: (1) denial of a theory of defense instruction in his admission of participation in cover-up activities after the homicide with denial of any actual participation in the death; (2) misapplication of his accessory after the fact admission and testimony to create presumptive proof of guilt of premeditated and felony murder; (3) trial theory development, procedural application and jury instruction which eliminated the requirement that the homicide result from commission of a felony and consequently justified felony murder conviction when the only crime was conduct as an accessory after the fact following a homicide committed and admitted by his employee; and (4) usage of a single crime jury verdict form for the alternative crimes of either felony murder or premeditated murder eliminating the requirement that the jury reach unanimous agreement on the essential elements proving first degree murder.