Court Opinion

ID: 9793473
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-31 02:48:21.842563+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T08:05:20.684936
License: Public Domain

THOMAS, Justice,
concurring specially.
I agree that Yasquez’s conviction should be affirmed. I do not wish to have my joinder in that result as manifesting, to any degree, any recession from my position articulated in my dissent in McChesney v. State, 988 P.2d 1071, (Wyo.1999). I remain steadfast in my view that the anonymous report in this instance would have provided the requisite ar-ticulable suspicion to justify an investigatory stop.
I also add a caveat to the choice of pursuing, on an ad hoc basis, an independent state constitutional analysis in instances in which the criminal conduct is proscribed by both state and federal law. Reality is that, because of the action of Congress in adopting strict sentencing guidelines, many violations of the controlled substances statutes are taken to federal court in lieu of state court. The adoption of broader protections under the Wyoming Constitution in such instances can lead to further erosion of State judicial sovereignty in favor of a federalist approach.