Opinion ID: 2598537
Heading Depth: 1
Heading Rank: 6

Heading: Appellee's Statement of the Issues

Text: II. Whether Appellant's penalty phase jury was properly selected?

V. Whether Appellant received effective assistance of counsel? VI. Whether Wyo. Stat. § 6-2-102 is unconstitutional?

XII. Whether the trial court properly instructed the jury it could consider argument from counsel relating to the significance of evidence in reaching its decision in the penalty phase of trial?

XV. Whether lethal injection is cruel and unusual punishment? [Prosecutor]: Could you state your full name and occupation?
Q. And as part of your duties, have you been in contact with the victims in this particular case? A. Yes, I have. Q. And are you familiar with the mother of Emma Lou McCoid? A. Yes, I am. Q. Could you tell the jury who that person is, please? A. Dolly Sorrensen is Emma Lou's mother, and she lives in Basin.     Q. Okay. And did she prepare a statement? A. Yes, she did. Q. Have you discussed it with her? A. Yes, her and I have talked about her reading this, and she finds it difficult to do so. Q. And so do you have that statement with you now? A. Yes, I do.     Q. Could you read the statement for the jury, please? A. Certainly. I am the mother of Emma Lou McCoid. Unless you are a parent of someone who has been taken away, you will not know the pain I feel inside my heart. There is an empty spot in my heart and life that will never be filled again. Each of my children held a part of my heart and had his or her own place special to them. With Emma's untimely and uncalled for death, there is just a pain of loss and a pain of unanswered questions. A pain for her children, excuse me, a pain for her children, for myself, for her family and for her in her last minutes of life. As her mother I can find comfort in the memories of special things a mother remembers and holds in her heart, but there should have been time to make more memories and share more things. My daughter was young with the hopes of years ahead of her to enjoy her life, her children, her family, and just to be here among us going about her daily activities. This was her right, and it all ended when this person took my daughter from us. He can't take the memories from me. It is hard to realize that there is no getting her back for one last look, hug, laugh, or any of the things we shared. Just as I miss my child, Emma's children miss their mother, and they are left with a great emptiness. Emma will not know her grandchildren, because of the act of this one person. I treasure our good times shared and will help her children and grandchildren to come to realize how she loved them and would have loved them. My loss could fill pages, but nothing will bring my baby girl, Emma McCoid, back to us. It is very difficult to express my feelings this way, because it is not easy to sort out all my feelings. I will always be her mother no matter where she is and what separates us from each other, but I had every reason to expect that we would be together right here until it would be my own time to leave the world at God's calling. I expected to enjoy many more times with her, to make more memories, and to watch as she grew older, finished raising her own children, and watch her with her own grandchildren. This is the way it should be right now. Everything changed that night in January. The shock to my body and my heart when I got the news of her death was overwhelming, and then I have to learn that this young man killed her for no reason, made it too much to bear. Emma was my daughter and part of me as much as my arms and legs are. I nursed her, watched her grown, and shared the good times and the bad times. Now this part of me is gone and there's an empty ache there. You can only know â you can only know how it hurts if you have had to bury one of your own children. The feelings are beyond explaining, because they are around each day. I had her and all my memories and all the things a mother holds in her own heart about each of her children. This has all had a terrific impact on me. I have trouble sleeping and sometimes I just don't know what to do with how I feel. It isn't like I lost her to cancer, or in a way that a person can see some reasoning. Sincerely, Dolly Sorrensen.     Q. Ms. Rosenbach, did you also â were you also involved in a statement from â regarding Mr. Taylor? A. Yes, I received â Q. Do you have it with you? A. Yes, I do. Q. Could you tell the jury where that came from, please? A. This came from June Marx. June Marx was Art Taylor's ex-wife.     Q. Could you read the statement, please? A. Yes. You asked me to tell you who Art Taylor was. That was an astronomical task. Many tries in this essence escapes me. I could send you photos, and you could see him, work shirt and jeans, the inevitable cap, a grin that made his eyes light up, and made you feel like smiling back. When I met him, he was 26 years old, and I told Momma, that's the guy I'm going to marry. Marry him I did on June 1, 1976. There were four, too short years before alcohol drove us apart. Loving him, I couldn't watch the addiction destroy him. So I divorced my friend, lover, business partner, and the most special man I ever met. He was 26, no children of his own when he embraced five children and their mother to help them grow. Honest, fair, and hard-working. He taught by example and with love. He took my sons and made them into men. He took them hunting and fishing, he showed them how to fix a sagging fence, build a foundation, and how to relax after a day's work. He made them face mistakes and he celebrated their successes. Art hired on at Lucky Mac in March of 1976, and in July he became the head shovel mechanic. He had no heavy equipment experience before he hired on, but he stuck with his supervisor, Ted Hailey, and learned all he could, and upon Ted's retirement, Art took his place. He was broke and driving an old '67 pickup when he came to Wyoming, but always dreamed of his own business and success. He fell down many, many times, but he got up and started over one more time than he fell. He loved country music, and he loved to dance. He had a fine voice and was rarely refused as a dance partner. He could win hearts and friends anywhere. Art served in Viet Nam, and though he thought it was a no-win war, he said, I had to go, I live here. He rarely talked of his experience there, but you knew he had deep feelings regarding that time. He went to the airport with my 18-year-old when he joined the Navy, and he had tears in his eyes, Be a man, son, and he hugged a son he raised, but never fathered. Over the years Art and I remained friends, and for many of those years, I remained June Taylor. I did so because no one else measured up. He was so much of what I needed in my life, and I couldn't bring myself to change for less. No, he wasn't a saint, he was a man, faults and all. I had to go when I left him, but I left a lot of myself there with him. We talked of getting back together, but there was still the same old problem, Black Velvet. Who was Art Taylor, the love of my life, the most sentimental poet ever, and I kept letters to prove it. One of the hardest working people I've ever known. A father who had no children, but he made several young people stronger because of his example. Art was the son of two wonderful, aging people who are deprived of his help when they can no longer do for themselves. His mom calls me, because we can cry together, laugh together, and rejoice that we had him for a while. When I think of all the losses that occurred on January 20th, I want to weep for the shattered dreams, the dreams of his folks, my children, and others whose life Art had touched. Sincerely, June Taylor Marx.     Q. Could you state your name, please? A. Beverly Baumstarck. Q. And could you tell the jury your relationship with Kyle Baumstarck? A. Kyle's mother. Q. Could you read your statement, please? A. Kyle was a caring, loving, giving person. He was the second of my four children. Wes, Kyle, and Sandy were born in less than two and a half years, and Melinda was born three and a half years after Sandy. He was the most quiet of all, and content to play alone or do what the others wanted. Kyle and Sandy were only 11 months apart in age and went through all 12 years of school together. They were kind of like twins. School was hard for him, but he liked going to be with the other kids. He didn't cause any problems in school and was liked by all, specially teachers. After graduating from high school, he attended classes at Job Corp in Rapid City, South Dakota. He was liked by everyone, and he cam home with several certificates for volunteer work and other accomplishments. Kyle's father passed away just at the time he completed his one-year training in Rapid City. He was content to stay on the farm with me for over a year and work in Linton before getting on with his own life. During that time he, along with the other children, helped me move into town. Since he was living with me, he made many more trips and carried more boxes than anyone else. I don't know what I would have done without him. Shortly after I moved to town my dad passed away, then he went to stay with his grandmother and work near her farm for two years until she was comfortable being alone. He wasn't sure what he wanted to do, so he came back home again and worked for a rancher near Linton. During that time, I moved to Bismarck, and he was my right hand again. He went to Job Corp in Minot in 1994 for additional training for another year before moving to Denver for a year. During that year only Melinda and I saw him once. I was so happy he was back with the family in December. Little did we know it would not last long. I had planned on taking my vacation in June and planned on seeing both of my sons in Worland. He liked kids and was looking forward to getting married and having a family someday. He always had patience and enjoyed spending time with his younger cousins. He would stop to visit aunts and uncles whenever he could. I miss Kyle very much and will for the rest of my life. I can just see him walk through the door and hear his cheerful, Hi, Mom. I will also miss having another daughter-in-law and grandchildren. Wes lost his only brother, and Sandy and Melinda now have only one brother. Wes' wife, Christy, had little time to spend with Kyle, she was just getting to know him. A parent should not have to bury a child, especially for such a senseless reason. Sincerely.